Germany shuts down its last three nuclear power plants, but the government admits the plan has downsides. | world News

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The move proved divisive as anti-nuclear activists welcomed the decision, while others raised concerns about fuel scarcity.

Sunday, April 16, 2023 05:35, United Kingdom

Germany has begun shutting down its three remaining nuclear power plants as part of a long-planned transition to renewable energy.

The closure of the Emsland, Nichoristem-2 and Isar-2 reactors, agreed more than a decade ago, has proven divisive.

Other industrialized countries – such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, China and France – rely on nuclear power to replace fossil fuels.

Germany’s decision to stop using both nuclear and fossil fuels has been met with some skepticism, as well as unsuccessful last-minute calls for a halt to the lockdown.

Decades of anti-nuclear protests in Germany, fueled by disasters at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, have put pressure on successive governments to end their use.

Environmental groups planned to mark the day with ceremonies outside the three reactors and rallies in major cities, including Berlin.

Atomic energy advocates say fossil fuels must be phased out first as part of global efforts to curb climate change, arguing that nuclear power produces far fewer greenhouse gas emissions and is safe, if properly managed.

With energy prices soaring in the past year due to the war in Ukraine, some members of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government have cooled about shutting down the nuclear plants as planned on December 31, 2022.

In a compromise, Schulz agreed to extend the deadline one time, but insisted that the final countdown would happen on April 15.

Bavaria’s conservative governor, Markus Soeder, who upheld the original deadline set in 2011 when Angela Merkel was Germany’s chancellor, this week called the lockdown “a completely wrong decision”.

He said, “While many countries in the world are expanding nuclear energy, Germany is doing the opposite.

“We need every form of energy possible. Otherwise, we risk electricity prices going up and companies turning away.”

Nuclear advocates around the world have slammed the German shutdown, knowing that action by Europe’s largest economy could deal a blow to a technology it touts as a clean and reliable alternative to fossil fuels.

The German government has acknowledged that in the short term, the country will have to rely more heavily on polluting coal and natural gas to meet its energy needs, even as it takes steps to dramatically increase electricity production from solar and wind power.

Germany aims to be carbon neutral by 2045.

Officials such as Environment Minister Stevie Lemke say the idea of ​​a nuclear renaissance is a myth, citing data showing atomic energy’s share of global electricity production is shrinking.

At a recent press conference in Berlin, Lemke noted that construction of new nuclear plants in Europe, such as Hinkley Point C in the UK, has faced significant delays and cost overruns.

She said that money spent on maintaining old reactors or building new reactors would be better spent on installing cheap renewable energy sources.

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