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Nuclear power plant Isar 2
Photo: Peter Kneffel / dpa
Support for extending the lifespan of German nuclear power plants is growing, but Green Party leaders remain opposed.
»It is negligent that the CDU and FDP act in the debate about the nuclear power plants as if safety issues were irrelevant.
After all, it is a technology where an unrecognized problem can have fatal consequences," Green Party leader Katharina Dröge told SPIEGEL.
»After the Fukushima disaster, the German safety requirements for nuclear power plants were tightened.
According to this new state of the art, the remaining nuclear power plants were not checked.” The last periodic safety check took place 13 years ago.
After the reactor catastrophe in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, a majority of Germans supported the final nuclear phase-out, which the then federal government made up of CDU, CSU and FDP decided for security reasons.
Almost four-fifths for continued operation until the summer
Now surveys by the Civey Institute for SPIEGEL show that a large majority of Germans are open to nuclear power again.
Around 78 percent of Germans are in favor of operating the three still running piles - Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2 - by next summer.
Two thirds were in favor of leaving the nuclear power plants connected to the grid for another five years.
Around 41 percent are even in favor of building new nuclear power plants, which could possibly only be connected to the grid in 20 or more years.
A few years ago only a tiny minority supported the construction of new nuclear reactors.
Many of the Greens are not yet irritated by this: "According to surveys, we would have phased out in 1986 and would no longer have the problem," said Jürgen Trittin, who, as Federal Minister for the Environment, was jointly responsible for the first phase-out of nuclear power.
»It was precisely the idea of the nuclear consensus to create predictability.
Predictability is neither something for panickers like Lindner nor for turncoats like Söder - but it goes well with the Greens."
In the case of political competition, there is a clear demand to let the nuclear power plants run longer.
The heads of the Union, for example, advocate operation at least until 2024.
There is also a growing openness among the supporters of the Greens, at least for the so-called stretching operation.
With this model, the three remaining nuclear power plants would not be shut down at the end of the year as actually planned.
Instead, the last of the energy would be produced from the old fuel rods well into the new year.
About 52 percent of the Greens supporters are in favor of running the three nuclear power plants until the summer.
This is remarkable for a party that largely emerged from the anti-nuclear movement.
skepticism in the group
In the parliamentary group and party, however, there is also greater skepticism than at the base.
Nuclear power is inflexible, expensive, produces dangerous waste for which there is no repository and, as you can see from France, is not resilient to the climate crisis, said the deputy parliamentary group leader Julia Verlinden.
In France, about half of the reactor park is currently not in use: "Responsible politics minimizes the dangers for the population."
»We can expand the renewables much faster and cheaper.
In addition, many can participate directly in the citizen energy transition.
That is also a very relevant advantage of a decentralized energy supply," said Verlinden: "That's why there have been stable survey values for years and a lot of support for the expansion of wind power and solar energy."
The reasons for the survey results are concerns about high energy bills and a possible blackout in winter if Russia stops supplying gas.
»The current energy crisis is a result of our high dependence on fossil fuels and it is causing concern for people.
But more nuclear power is not the answer,” said Dieter Janecek, a Green economics politician: “You can’t drive out the devil with Beelzebub.”
According to analyses, a stretching operation should at best replace one percent of the gas.
Nuclear power is not suitable for many applications that require gas, such as heating and district heating.
But ever since Climate Minister Robert Habeck said that every kilowatt hour helps, his Green party friends have found it more difficult to argue that the nuclear phase-out must remain.
Climate politician Kathrin Henneberger nevertheless warned: »No mistakes must be made now.
Going back to nuclear power would be a serious mistake.” Nuclear power remains a high-risk technology.
»Anyone who hopes to find a simple solution to the energy crisis here is wrong«.