Once upon a time, Germany decided to shut down it’s nuclear power stations which ended up happening last year. People, there is a cost of living crisis going on. Further to minister Robert Harbeck’s idea to switch to H2, affecting 50% of households using gas heating to convert to H2 as stated here, the following should be interesting. Nota bene: Robert Harbeck is the minister of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in Germany. He fought against publishing why nuclear power stations needed to be shut down when they did.
It looks as though 4 weeks since the judge’s decision have passed and no appeal happened. GO, Cicero, I beg of you. The court decided that all relevant material may be handed over to Cicero which proably already happened by now!
Why, pray tell, did the German government switch off the nuclear power stations when they did?
Cicero, an investigative magazine, focuses on politics and culture in Germany. For more than a year, they fought to get access to documents behind the decision and last month they won.
Here’s what happened. Run times have been decided upon, some extended for older nuclear power stations and finally all of them got shut down in 2023, literally at the expensive of German citizens. An extensive history of Germany’s Atomkraftwerke (AKW) life cycles can be found here. It also added some other countries’ history for reference.
Personally, it would be interesting to learn what the criteria are to determine how long a nuclear power station can run. That was actually also being debated in Germany. Some sources abroad say 80 years, other sources state 100 years, even. In my opinion, it also should be determined what kind of decommission protocols were required and if that means they can be revived, depending on the type. After all, the fact that the AKWs are currently not in use does not mean that are deactivated. Those power stations have to be maintained for years, if not decades. Has the government done their due diligence, establishing alternatives in between? Should new ones have been established like in France? What about now depending on power supply from neighbours?
While we are at it. I remember safety concerns surrounding nuclear power stations, concerns about waste management, Chernobyl, Fukushima. Moreover, there is a concern about waste management and “disposal”.
My question is this: Is the German government acting in the republic’s best interest. Is it worth considering to “reactivate” nuclear power stations. An expert in the US states that such an endeavour should be feasible, but it has not been done. It is currently being considered in Michigan.
This will be very interesting. Keep your eyes peeled! And comment on X. What is your view?
