Germany has become the biggest industrialised country to renounce nuclear energy. It declared this week that its 17 nuclear power stations would be phased out by 2022. The centre-right coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel had previously decided to extend the operating lives of Germany’s nuclear plants by 14 years to 2036. The government plans to double the proportion of electricity from renewable sources to 35% by the end of the decade.
What the commentators said
“This lady is for turning,” said Sabine Rennefanz in The Guardian. Last autumn Merkel was pro-nuclear. “Seven months, a nuclear catastrophe in Japan and several regional election losses by [her] Christian Democrats later, she’s changed her mind.”
The popular Greens are the only plausible coalition partner for her in the next federal election, said Anatole Kaletsky in The Times. “Destroying the German nuclear industry was a small price to pay” for this opportunity.
Dumping nuclear won’t come cheap. According to the industry association BDI, electricity prices could rise by 30% if all nuclear plants close by the end of the decade. Prognos, a consultancy, noted that existing renewable energy subsidies, a carbon emissions scheme and more expensive fossil fuels account for much of that rise. Without thousands of kilometres of new cables and substitute power stations, there will be power shortages, said FAZ.net.
There’s much scope, then, for ‘not in my backyard’ syndrome to reduce support for this U-turn. Merkel’s political gamble may fail – at considerable long-term cost to the economy.