Today at 11:45 PM Germany will produce the last watt with nuclear power: at midnight, the German nuclear power plants in Isar 2 (southeast), Neckarwestheim (southwest) and Emsland (northwest) will be disconnected. electricity grid With the closure of the last three nuclear power plants operating in Germany today, after more than 60 years, civil nuclear energy use in the country is coming to an end.
The opening of the first commercial reactor in Kahl, Bavaria, was in November 1960. Two of the power plants were supposed to be shut down at the end of last year, but due to the energy crisis caused by the measures taken to limit gas and oil exports from Russia, the government decided to extend their operations through the winter.
The German government has given a several-week postponement without questioning its decision to turn the nuclear power page, regarding the planned closure on 31 December. From today, the activity of the reactors will be gradually reduced until they are removed from the grid and completely shut down.
Environment Minister Steffi Lemke recently said, “The risks associated with nuclear energy are absolutely uncontrollable.” said. In Germany, the fight against the dangers associated with civilian nuclear energy mobilized large sections of the population for several decades and consolidated the environmental movement.
If Scholz is the ultimate executor of the German atom, the decision to shut down the plants bears Angela Merkel’s signature: After years of pressure from the ecological front, the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan sparked a wave of protest and reached its climax. A maxi anti-nuclear demonstration attended by 250,000 people. Merkel listened to the square and in May 2011 decided to close all factories in the country.
Jens Spahn, CDU energy policy spokesperson and former health minister of the last Merkel government, today changed the mind of the former chancellor’s party: “The decommissioning of nuclear power plants is a black day for climate protection in Germany,” he said. The reference here is that, despite their gradual reduction, the latest reactors inject 70 gigawatt hours per day into the grid, meeting about 3 to 7% of German electricity demand depending on the time of day. And now we’re going to have to rely more on fossil fuels like coal and gas to make up for it. At least in the near future.
According to a recent poll, more than half of Germans will favor expanding nuclear power plants, fearing a further increase in utility bills. Liberals of the FDP, members of Scholz’s executive branch, but those loyal to the positions of German companies trying to delay the shutdown of reactors until the last minute, agree. But the chancellor remained true to the commitment made with other government allies, the Greens, who were grounded in the fight against nuclear power. Time will tell who is right.
Source: Today IT

Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.