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    Germany won't return to nuclear power, chancellor says
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    Germany won’t return to nuclear power, chancellor says

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    32 Comments

    1. IIIIIlIIIIIlIIIII on

      With the decline of the prices of batteries I can understnad why you won’t want to build an expensive plant.

    3. Deepfire_DM on

      Just imagining building a multi million Euro NPP controlled by the ministress of incompetence is a thing nightmares are made of.

    4. BillyWillyNillyTimmy on

      Because it would be extremely expensive to get the power plants running again. Every pipe needs to be inspected and replaced, and there are tens of thousands of them. German inspections are no joke.

      Also the greens would block it.

    5. Peetoar on

      Doesn‘t make any sense as it takes 20 years anyway until a new one is built.

      And you need a place for it and no one wants one around them.

      Also there‘s no further incentive regarding nuclear (France, Britain have their military adventures with it), which Germany doesn‘t have. So both of them have other incentives to have the personell workforce for this.

      Has it made sense to shut the others down? No. Do they have a limited lifetime anyway? Yes.

      Does it make sense to build new ones? If you want one in 2045, sure.

    6. Slackeee_ on

      Because it doesn’t make sense. Let’s look at the actual data:
      – Olkiluoto 3 — Finland, planned build time and costs 5 years/3 billion Euro, actual build time and costs 17 years / 11 billion Euro
      – Flamanville 3 — France, planned build time and costs 5 years, 3.3 billion Euro, actual build time 17 years / 23.7 billon Euro
      – Hinkley Point C — UK, still in construction, was planned to be ready in 2025 for 18 billion Pound, now estimated to be ready in 2030 for 35 billion Pound

      And this won’t be different in Germany. A return to nuclear power just isn’t a viable option for Germany.

    7. Asckor_ on

      It’s not so surprising; it was a mistake to abandon nuclear power.
      But it would also be a mistake to go back to it.

      What would be the point?
      Renewable energy is working better and better, and the neighbor is filling the gap.

    8. Jackman1337 on

      Obviously, it’s an outdated extremely expensive energy source. (To build and ongoing) 0 reason to go for it now. Just look at the new UK plants.

    10. OkKaleidoscope3890 on

      However, there is no problem importing electricity from French nuclear power.

    11. No-Departure2515 on

      wird das thema jetzt eigentlich alle 6 monate durchs dorf getrieben? Mit immer der selben reihenfolge?

    12. Filias9 on

      Germany don’t have capabilities to build or run nuclear power plant on realistic budget. Just look on some recent big German projects. It’s just incompetence on top places, NIMBY and gas lobby. It’s just not realistic.

      China can make stuffs. Including Nuclear power plants. Germans don’t. Just check new German cars or Bosh washing machines. And now imagine these engineers and managers are building and running nuclear power plants.

    13. dragon_irl on

      Honestly, right now this makes a lot of sense. Germany is fundamentally unable to build big projects, even more so than other western countries. Any new nuclear project would get stuck in 20+ years of planning phases and NIMBY appeal before construction even starts. They’re much better of just importing power from France or soon Poland and (indirectly) financing construction there.

      Also they’re not really needed. German power consumption is in decline. Energy intensive industry is going away (due to high power prices, burocracy, crumbling infrastructure) and right now it’s doubtful that significant parts of it will even be around once a hypothetical planing phase is completed.

    15. MercantileReptile on

      >Merz also knows that a rollback would need to find a majority in the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany’s parliament. And and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s votes would be needed to make up the numbers. Merz has said he would not work with the AfD.

      Horse shit. Merz was perfectly happy to count on AfD votes when it came to immigration. But suddenly the guy has qualms when it comes to nuclear power?

      Either he learned a lesson regarding the cordon sanitaire or he is lying. Easy pick when it comes to probability.

    16. Significant-Dig8805 on

      What’s even the point of this discussion (again)? All of the big energy companies/grid operators in Germany say building new NPP is not realistic as it takes too long and is way too expensive. They wouldn’t want to do it.
      Is it just so that the nuclear lovers and haters have something to fight about and won’t look too closely on other projects?

    17. fragmuffin91 on

      Finally a bit of realism from the guy.

      But he and Reiche are already sabotaging renewables which the previous government had tremendous success on. Herein lies the problem.

    20. FreshRelationship575 on

      The problem is European Union organization itself. There is no accountability at the top. Me from Romania can’t penalize them as they are at Brussels ..same thing with people from Bulgaria, Spain, France. Incompetency and corruption to the bone, and no political responsability.

    21. CheetaLover on

      This must mean France and Sweden immediately need to make sure no Nuclear power electricity is sent to Germany.

    22. kuemmel234 on

      I’m so fed up with this process. Every decade it’s the same thing – some crisis happens somewhere we buy energy off of and everyone is completely surprised that everything becomes expensive and all that.

      This would have been a question for more than a decade ago when it became clear that we won’t be able to get off of the fossil fuels. Or didn’t want to, rather.

      This government is pretty much the party to support that sort of cycle. The one for ICE cars, gas heaters and all that.

      We Germans had a huge fit during the Ukraine war – we feared not being able to heat our homes. But it was clear that with the right infrastructure (nuclear/renewables and electrified heating) we wouldn’t have had this issue. And if we would have invested into more electrification before, we would not have been hit as much by the last crisis either. Or this one.

      If people don’t give a damn for the environment (and I fear this will cost us dearly), then spend a bit more for strategic reasons.

    23. bforo on

      It doesn’t even make financial sense anymore! We have good solid state batteries coming on, and really good improvements in liquid ones

      Renewable energy is cheaper and faster to produce than ever and it just keeps getting better, why the fuck would they want nuclear now

    24. UrDadMyDaddy on

      Det skulle vara så sorglig om någon aktör bara råkade kapa länken mellan Sverige och kontinenten. Det skulle verkligen bara sorgligt.

    30. HatCrafty on

      As long as they do not try to sabotage the rest of Europe just like they did in the past regarding this exact same topic it’s fine. (I do not trust them at all).