Berlin.
Nuclear power plants harbor risks, but are largely CO2-neutral. Now they are switched off – and the climate movement is divided.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine throws old certainties overboard: It is not just a green economics minister who is suddenly announcing the continued operation of coal-fired power plants. Also the icon of climate movementGreta Thunberg, suddenly jumped into the breach in October of last year for the technology whose rejection actually made the environmental movement of the 1980s big: nuclear power.
Also read: Nuclear phase-out – This endless debate must end now
“If they’re already running, I think it would be a mistake to shut them down and turn to coal,” said the Swedish Fridays for Future-Gründerin at that time on German television in the Maischberger program and thus advocated the continued operation of the nuclear power plants. Accordingly, it is “a bad idea” to rely on coal as long as “the other” still exists.
Fridays for Future advocates nuclear phase-out
The question of how to deal with the dangerous but largely CO2-neutral technology will probably be finally decided on Saturday. Then the remaining three leave nuclear power plants off the grid in Germany. “Overall, phasing out nuclear power is the right decision for many reasons,” Pauline Brünger, spokeswoman for Fridays for Future, told the editorial office. “From a climate perspective, it is particularly important that the expansion of renewables progresses, that we focus our capacities and resources there.”
That I nuclear power plants cannot be switched on and off flexibly, the technology is not suitable alongside renewable energies. In addition, it is a high-risk technology and very expensive: “All the capacities and all the resources that we put into it are missing where renewables are to be expanded,” said the spokeswoman. “If you look at renewables versus nuclear power, there is no argument in favor of nuclear power.”
Also exciting: Nuclear power dispute – The economy demands cheap electricity
Accordingly, the movement sees a sham debate at this point in time. “That’s a question you should have asked yourself maybe ten years ago,” says Brünger. Also, Fridays for Future have never prominently opposed a short-term term extension pronounced. However, no more money should now be invested in this technology.
Radical climate movements denounce “the economic system”.
Other climate movements cannot be pinned down to clear statements. The group Extinction Rebellion, for example, remains vague, having “rather a more general opinion on energy production in Deutschland“, as spokesman Florian Zander says of this editorial team. “I don’t want to break this down into one form of energy, but rather to denounce the economic system.” The group calls for citizens’ councils to debate energy crises, “instead of it happening through lobbying or big corporations.”
Also worth reading: Germany on the outside – These EU countries rely on nuclear power
During Fridays for Future with climate strikes worldwide for green politics mobilized, groups such as Extinction Rebellion or the “Last Generation” resort to much more radical means: The “Last Generation” recently smeared the FDP party headquarters in Berlin with an oil-like liquid. Meanwhile, Extinction Rebellion is calling for “civil disobedience”; for example, as part of their “Spring Rebellion” they set off smoke bombs on the balcony of the Berlin luxury hotel Adlon.
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