Germany says tschüss to nuclear energy


Briefly: Germany switched off its three remaining nuclear power plants on Saturday. The reactors were already living on borrowed time after being granted a three-month extension in December to see Germany through the winter.

Berlin made the decision to abandon nuclear in 2011after Japan’s Fukushima disaster, but a decade and a war later, many now think this was near-sighted.

A recent poll suggests two thirds of Germans oppose the closing down of the remaining nuclear power plants, at least in the short term.

Intrigue’s take: Germany may be in good company: nuclear’s share of global electricity production has been steadily declining for the past two decades, as other low-carbon energy sources become cheaper.

But in parallel, several of Germany’s neighbours – spooked by the Russo-Ukraine War – are actually looking to add more nuclear power to their energy mix, as a means to pursue both climate and energy security goals.

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