Reversing the Nuclear Power Shutdown, An Urgent Matter for Germany!

By midnight of April 15, the last three nuclear power plants in Germany were switched off. This, despite the most recent polls showing that up to 59% of the citizens disagreed with the government’s decision. Just a few hours later, a stern warning was delivered as to just how foolish the nuclear exit is for an industrial nation like Germany. Early the next morning, the country was forced to import electricity from its European neighbors in the range of 2 GW, as its windmills were only supplying 13% of their potential capacity, and solar panels only 1.4%!

And that was on a Sunday morning, when most industries are not working and power consumption is also low in private households. Had it been a normal working day, it would have been an outright disaster, triggering activation of the government plans for drastic power rationing. But such working days with rationing are certain to come.

Meanwhile, the government may fantasize about an “all renewables future”, but the installation of new wind power capacities is only one third of what it should be, according to the plans drawn up. Investments, which would need to triple, remain much too low, not to mention that wind is an unpredictable source in any case.

Therefore, energy shortages are on the agenda. The “era of e-mobility”, with the millions of e-cars announced, has not even begun, and will never be realized, quite simply because the power supply needed to charge and recharge the batteries will not be available in five or ten years from now. As for the power-intensive sectors of industry, they cannot function this way at all. Many medium sized and small companies will not survive, while heavy industry, such as carmakers, will attempt to produce somewhere else, preferably in Asia. The automobile sector being the centerpiece of the German industrial economy, that means the loss of countless numbers of jobs.

Therefore, to survive as an industrial nation, and a world leader, Germany needs to return to nuclear power. At the moment, the Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (BüSo) is the only party calling for the construction of new nuclear power plants and the rapid development of thermonuclear fusion power.

The absurdity of the German situation is additionally illustrated by the situation of Finland, which just completed the required test runs for its most recent nuclear reactor which is going on the grid now, and is committed to ensuring that one third of its national power supply comes from nuclear energy. And the Greens of Finland, a partner in the coalition government, are all for it!