Germany pledges to end all nuclear power by 2022 | Hacker News Reader

Germany pledges to end all nuclear power by 2022

bbc.co.uk

12 pointsnl5 comments

The ironic thing is, that the result of the anti-nuclear-power movement is today that we have these old power plants instead of the modern and secure ones.

The reason for recent movements is the success of the Green party, they won the most recent state elections. Their method is in this matter primarily exploiting the fears of the people. They also serve the need for moral superiority. In the long run is this party damaging like extreme left and right wing movements, who are not successful because of our history.

I am German btw.

I upvoted this because I think that it needs attention, especially amongst the more tech/science savvy population of society. Nuclear power has the potential to meet the energy needs of the human race for well over a century while in the mean time we work out the details of more long term and renewable options. It's also safer than many of the current energy sources so the way that the public reacts to it is nothing less than a tragedy.

Happening to live in Germany, and near a number of coal power plants, I am shocked by how out of place I am here for not opposing nuclear power.

The short-term alternatives to German-produced nuclear power are mainly coal power (due to massive coal resources in the area) and importing French nuclear power (the French plants are older and many are on the French-German border). I am not convinced that giving up German nuclear plants for French nuclear plants (while keeping the risks due to their proximity and yet losing regulatory control over them) is a good idea.

Long-term alternatives have suddenly had their funding withdrawn. The renewable energy fund was financed by nuclear power plant operators as a condition of their continued operation. The government, latching onto the Fukushima accident, attempted to buy popularity for themselves by calling for no longer allowing these plants to run. The plant operators promptly stopped making payments into the renewable energy fund.

The nuclear plants in Germany are ancient and in terrible condition, and provide around 20% of German energy. I do not think it's a tragedy that they are getting shut down. But I see the insane, purely dogmatic opposition of any new plants, as a national hysteria.

From a personal viewpoint, I get to breathe the coal dust, which is much more damaging and releases way more radioactivity into the air than the nuclear plants do. This is a real danger, an actual damaging factor, rather than a risk. To me, expanding coal power production, which seems the most likely scenario, is a nightmare.

As an Austrian I can tell you exactly what will happen as we never built nuclear power in the first place. The new NPP will be built in Poland or the Ukraine and you will be importing the power. Best case with German financing and thus German engineering, worst case financed by Gazprom to have Germany even more at its whim.

Edit: Austria imports 10% of its power from Czech and Slovak NPP that we have no financial interest in that were built after russian designs. But my fellow countrymen will not be corrupted to pick the least bad of the options 1. Cold homes 2. Old or unsafe NPP with no Austrian involvement 3. Newer and potentially much safer NPP to which we contribute some money

I had thought that feed-in tariffs had been the sole cause of growth of renewables in Germany: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2599092

Hadn't realised there was a renewable energy fund as well.

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