Germany announces the end of nuclear power

Correspondent in Berlin

This Saturday, April 14, 2023, the anti-nuclear movement will savor its "great success", according to the own expression of the NGO Greenpeace: the last three German power stations of Isar, Emsland and Neckarwestheim III will be definitively disconnected from the network, putting an end, in addition to -Rhine, to decades of use of the atom. The party will be celebrated in front of the Brandenburg Gate around a dinosaur statue designed by a sculptor from Düsseldorf. The prehistoric animal, symbolizing the obsolescence of reactors, will be surrounded by barrels of waste and surmounted by an "anti-nuclear sun in the position of winner", proudly announces Greenpeace.

Apart from these few celebrations, it is without drums or trumpets that Berlin officially puts an end to this source of energy, assuring in a press release published Thursday, that “the high availability of the energy supply remains assured in Germany”. The process of extinction was nevertheless marred by multiple incidents. In the midst of the gas supply crisis generated by the war in Ukraine, an additional period of activity of three months had been granted to these three power stations beyond the initial date of December 31, 2022. It is this calendar, itself even set by his Social Democratic predecessor Gerhard Schröder, which CDU Chancellor Angela Merkel had decided to respect, in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster.

The decision was taken without consultation with Paris, “in the emotional” judged at the time Nicolas Sarkozy. Returning to power in 2021, with the SPD, the Greens could only endorse Merkel's turn - even though it displeased Paris. But it was finally under the influence of France, handicapped by the failures of its reactors, that Olaf Scholz granted, in pain, a final grace period to the industry. "Because of Putin's war and the disaster of the French nuclear industry, all of Europe must produce like mad to supply France", denounced last October Jurgen Trittin, the former Grünen Minister of the Environment and historical architect of the exit from the atom.

Today, the government is discreetly closing this parenthesis, which has tested the unity of the coalition. The decision goes against much of European public opinion and practice. Within the EU, “nuclear energy seems to offer a new credible alternative”, notes the Robert Schuman Foundation, noting that a dozen countries, including six in Central Europe, are beginning the construction of new power plants. In Poland, a first reactor located 300 kilometers from the German border, should enter service in 2033. According to a You Gov poll, published by the DPA press agency, 65% of Germans are also in favor of a continuation of the exploitation, without however calling into question the principle of abandonment.

According to other opinion polls, concern for "energy security" now outweighs the imperatives of "environmental protection" among the population. "We are still in a time of war, which has significant consequences for supply and requires us to be careful," said FDP MP Konrad Stockmeier, spokesman for energy issues. This member party of the coalition campaigned in vain for an extension of the atom beyond April 15. Olaf Scholz would have found it difficult to ignore this ideological marker that constitutes for the Greens the rejection of nuclear power, also associated in the history of the recent German Republic, with the vigor of the pacifist tradition. For his part, the Minister of Economy and Climate Robert Habeck thinks he has overcome the mortgage of Russian gas by commissioning the first LNG terminals.

It ensures that the tanks are filled to high levels (64.5%). The last three reactors provided only 6% of energy production (33% for coal currently). Berlin is now clinging to its goal of decarbonizing its economy by 2045, through massive use of renewables. “From now on, we have no other choice”, supports Murielle Gagnebin, director of the European energy project of the NGO Agora. This association is pleased to witness a “strong societal demand in favor of the energy transition”. Witness, she explains, an unequaled demand for heat pumps and the quadrupling of photovoltaic installations in homes. However, the road promises to be tortuous. Last year, the increase in coal consumption - the end of which is "ideally" scheduled for 2038 - canceled out the benefits of energy savings in terms of CO2 emissions. These emissions stagnated at 761 million tonnes.