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Germany’s Baerbock calls nuclear extension ‘madness’ amid government split
(EurActiv, 29 Aug 2022) Postponing the closure of nuclear power plants will not solve the current energy crisis and will come at a high cost, Germany’s Green Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned as the three-party government remains divided on the issue.
Under the successive governments of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany opted for a gradual nuclear phaseout since the Fukushima disaster of 2011. Still, calls to extend the life of some nuclear plants, including from inside the governing coalition, have grown following the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
“I am not convinced that nuclear power plants will solve our gas problem,” Baerbock told the weekly Welt am Sonntag in an interview on Sunday.
During the past few decades, Germany “already paid many billions for the back and forth regarding the phaseout of nuclear. To throw this overboard again now would be madness and ultimately come at a high cost,” she added.
Those currently in favour of nuclear power would not content themselves with slightly extending the activity of existing plants, she said.
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EurActiv, 29 Aug 2022: Germany’s Baerbock calls nuclear extension ‘madness’ amid government split
