BERLIN: Germany has switched off its last three nuclear reactors, becoming the first major industrialised nation to end nuclear power.
While many Western countries are investing in atomic energy to reduce emissions, Germany has been seeking to leave behind nuclear power since 2002, and the phase-out was accelerated by ex-chancellor Angela Merkel in 2011 following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
The decision was popular in Germany due to fears of atomic disasters and a powerful anti-nuclear movement.
Greenpeace organised a celebratory event at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to mark the occasion, declaring, “Finally, nuclear energy belongs to history! Let us make this April 15 a day to remember.”
However, outside observers criticised Germany’s exit from nuclear power while ramping up its coal usage. Climate activist Greta Thunberg had previously called the move “a mistake.”
The exit decision faced a challenge due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to an energy crisis caused by the end of cheap gas imports.
This has upped calls in Germany to delay the withdrawal from nuclear power.
The country had to “expand the supply of energy and not restrict it any further,” according to the president of the German Chambers of Commerce, Peter Adrian.
Energy crisis in Germany
The three final nuclear plants provided just 6% of Germany’s energy in 2022, compared with 30.8% of all nuclear plants in 1997. Germany’s economy, the largest in the European Union, has been looking to wean itself off fossil fuels and better manage an energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
The country aims to produce 80 percent of its energy from renewables by 2030.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has directed installing “four to five wind turbines a day” during the next few years to achieve this goal.
But the present rate of progress on renewables could be too slow for Germany to meet its climate protection goals.
Germany has not made enough progress on the expansion of renewables in the last ten years,” according to Simon Mueller from the Agora Energiewende think tank.
The shutdown of the nuclear reactors will eventually lead to their dismantling, said Economy Minister Robert Habeck, brushing aside the idea of an extension.
The German government has the energy situation “under complete control,” Habeck assured, having built new infrastructure for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and filled gas stores to bridge the gap left by Russian supplies.
