Because the farewell to nuclear power in Germany does not convince the Germans
The Scholz government, through Minister Habeck, is closing the door to nuclear energy in Germany. But there are many doubts, and even the majority of Germans are sceptical. The article by Pierluigi Mennitti from Berlin
It is the week in which Germany bids farewell to nuclear power. After three and a half months of extra time due to the energy crisis and the need to get through the winter unscathed, the first winter without Russian gas, the atom escape plan imposed by Angela Merkel after the Fukushima accident will be completed by the government of Olaf Scholz. On Saturday, April 15, the switch will be turned off at the last three reactors in operation: Emsland in Lower Saxony, Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg and Isar 2 in Bavaria. An energy era is coming to an end, in which for 62 years 35 nuclear power plants have ensured billions of kilowatt hours of electricity for German industries and households.
The exit plan starts long ago, with the first decision taken by the red-green government led by Gerhard Schröder in successive stages from 2000 to 2002. The second government of Angela Merkel (CDU/CSU-FDP), the only one of its four of Grosse Koalition, repealed the Schröder road map and extended the life of the plants. As has often happened to her, just eight months later the chancellor changed her mind on the emotional wave of the Japanese catastrophe, and brought the end of the German atomic age forward to 2022. Now, with a further short delay of three and a half months, that time has come.
HABECK: DEFINITIVE ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR
Not without controversy, even within the Semaforo government itself, where the liberals still insist today on prolonging the activity of the three reactors. But the Minister of the Economy, the Green Robert Habeck, to whom Scholz has effectively handed over the lever of energy policy, closes the door to any further negotiations.
In an interview with the Funke group newspapers, Habeck reiterated that he considers the phasing out of nuclear power definitive. “Nuclear power plants would sooner or later be dismantled,” he said, “and the construction of new plants has always presented itself as an economic fiasco, whether in France or in Great Britain or Finland.” However, the latter affirmation clashes with the rebirth of nuclear energy which instead affects many European countries, even bordering on Germany itself.
The minister then added that even German operators "are not interested" in the construction of new nuclear power plants and indeed, the managers of the three reactors still in operation, have not even welcomed the extension from 31 December 2022. "Our energy system will otherwise, we will have 80% renewable energy by 2030”, assured Habeck as he outlined the energy policy lines for the near future.
SECURITY OF SUPPLY GUARANTEED
The minister then wanted to clarify the issue of supplies, excluding any risk of shortages, starting from next winter. “The security of energy supply in Germany has been ensured in this difficult winter and will continue to be so,” he said, “we have the situation under control thanks to the high filling levels in the gas storage facilities and the new LNG terminals on the northern German coasts and, last but not least, thanks to more renewable energies.”
This last point is more a useful message to appease the turbulent and disappointed electoral base of the Grünen than a factual truth, if it is true that in this winter that has just ended the lion's share still came from coal, the most polluting of the fossil sources.
RENEWABLES, FULL AHEAD (BUT WITH TRACKS)
Renewable energy expansion plans are being defined. More concrete operational guidelines, which aim to simplify and speed up procedures for new plants, mainly concern wind power. Businesses in the sector complain of slowness and delays, the government has retorted (not without reason) that these delays had been accumulated by the previous executives, while now it has stepped on the accelerator to recover the lost ground.
The next few years will be indicative to understand if the new regulations will be able to unblock the construction of new plants, offshore but above all onshore. The 16 Länder have received detailed indications on the expected growth, if they do not respect them they will be deprived of their regional laws in a sort of centralized commissioner which has already made many purists of federalism turn up their noses. It will also be necessary to see how much more local protests, always quite heated when it comes to turbines, will be able to affect. On paper, forecasts are always triumphalistic, in reality, obstacles are often around every corner.
EXPERTS AND INDUSTRIAL DOUBTS, HABECK CALLS FOR SAVINGS
For the immediate future, once the nuclear power is shut down, German energy insurance is entrusted to LNG and the floating regasification terminals which are built one after the other along the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. But not all experts are convinced that this will be enough to compensate for the small contribution that nuclear power ensures to the German energy basket (just over 6%), including government consultant economists such as Veronika Grimm, member of the Council of Five Wise Men with its own delegation to energy.
Criticisms also from industrialists, who still fear bottlenecks in energy supply. “We are not yet out of the woods when it comes to security of supply,” said the president of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) Peter Adrian in an interview with the Rheinische Post, “Germany depends on all sources energy available and this is the only way to avoid, or at least mitigate, bottlenecks in supply and a renewed increase in energy prices”. Adrian also warned that despite the reduction in gas prices, energy costs will remain high for most businesses, putting German industry at a competitive disadvantage, both in Europe and in global comparison.
This may be why Habeck renews its appeal to citizens to save energy. "I know from many people who have really reduced consumption, giving up hours of heating, this effort has helped fill the gas storage tanks in the critical phase and avert a serious economic crisis," said the minister, who then added : "Next winter we will have a better gas supply situation, however, energy is expensive and high consumption is bad for the climate, so it makes sense to use energy carefully."
BUT THE MAJORITY OF GERMANS IS AGAINST GOODBYE TO NUCLEAR POWER
On the other hand, those who appear decidedly unconvinced of the farewell to nuclear power are the majority of Germans, a problem that is not insignificant given that we are dealing with the electorate. In a survey conducted by the research institute YouGov on behalf of the German news agency dpa , almost two thirds of Germans spoke out against the closure of the last power plants. 32% said they were in favor of a further temporary extension, 33% even of an indefinite extension. Only 26% think that the shutdown is right now and a majority in this sense is reached only among Green voters: 56%, not even so much.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/germania-energia-nucleare-chiusura-reattori/ on Fri, 14 Apr 2023 05:16:10 +0000.