Nuclear Phase-Out in Germany Based on Falsified Information
Image: EnBW/Daniel Maurer
A recent investigation has revealed that the final steps in phasing out nuclear power in Germany was partly based on false information. And doesn’t look like it was a mistake, but a deliberate rewriting of what was originally accurate information. The ministry denies everything. Let’s have a look.
The news broke a few days ago, after the German magazine Cicero demanded a release of communications from the ministry for nuclear power and safety, for the time during which they were preparing information for the parliament in 2022.
The Germans have always been weird about nuclear power with a very strong anti-nuclear lobby that was represented in particular in the green party which ended up in the parliament in the late 1990s. The Fukushima accident in 2011 increased public pressure to phase out nuclear power. The decision to go through with it was passed with a broad majority in the parliament across all large parties. The last nuclear power plants were supposed to go off the grid end of 2022.
But come February 2022, and Putin invades Ukraine. Suddenly gas supply is at risk. At that point a lot of people asked quite reasonably if not it might be a good idea to keep the remaining three nuclear power plants running for a few more years.
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