Why is Germany phasing out nuclear power? Why end nuclear power now?

In light of the energy crisis, has Germany reconsidered its plans to phase out nuclear energy?

Germany had planned to stop nuclear power in December 2022, shortly after Russia's war in Ukraine triggered a European energy crisis that sparked debate about the future of the technology in Germany. Proponents of nuclear power have called for a complete reassessment or at least a delay in the withdrawal. Dwindling supplies of Russian gas have sparked widespread concerns about energy security, while rapidly rising energy prices have put pressure on household and business budgets.

With only a small fraction of natural gas used to generate electricity (mainly for heating buildings and industry), the extent to which nuclear power can help solve the crisis is hotly debated. Flexible gas-fired power plants are typically only used to provide electricity during specific peak periods of demand, which nuclear plants are not designed to do. However, some stakeholders stress that every kilowatt-hour of gas saved is important, while others argue that nuclear power may be necessary to provide grid stability during the winter months.

The German government commissioned so-called "stress tests" in the summer of 2022 to determine whether it made sense to keep the remaining reactors running for a few more months in the winter of 2022/23 to ensure grid stability. The study found that a limited uptime extension makes sense to support power production. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has finally decided to extend the operation of the country's three remaining nuclear power plants by about three months, until April 15, 2023, as a backup during the crisis. The government has since ruled out any further extension, with the plant's operator saying it would be technically impossible to keep the plant running longer, even if it were politically desirable.

02. How did Germany phase out nuclear energy?

The belief that nuclear power should not be part of Germany's energy mix is an old one and deeply rooted in German society. After years of protests against nuclear power plant projects in multiple places, along with the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the United States and the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the anti-nuclear movement resulted in no new commercial reactors being built in Germany after 1989.

When the Social Democrats and Greens took over from the Conservative government in 1998, they forged a "nuclear consensus" with the big utilities that operated the plants. By giving them a certain share of power generation, the last plant will close in 2022.

The Ministry of Environment (BMUV), which is also responsible for nuclear safety, confirmed at the end of March that nuclear power generation would end on the planned date, saying that this would not affect the country's energy supply security in winter 2023/2024. However, dismantling the reactors and deciding on the final repository for radioactive waste is a challenging task that could take decades to complete, while the many ageing reactors in operation in neighbouring countries continue to pose a serious safety risk for Germany and Europe as a whole, it added.

In 2010, the new Conservative government of Angela Merkel amended the agreement, extending the operating time of seven nuclear plants by eight years and the remaining 10 by 14 years. But after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in March 2011, Merkel's cabinet reversed course and mothballed Germany's oldest reactors for three months before proposing to shut them down permanently and phase out the remaining nine reactors by 2022.

03. Why is the phase-out of nuclear energy a contributing factor to the energy transition

Each country initially had different reasons for committing to climate action to reduce the use of fossil fuels and to sign the Paris Agreement in 2015, which is supposed to steer all countries on a path to net zero emissions. For some, it's about securing domestic power supplies in the form of renewable energy. For many, it only became a viable idea after the price of wind and solar installations dropped dramatically, while others took action in response to a brewing climate crisis and international pressure.

The starting point of Germany's energy transition, and the idea of climate protection that came with it, was the rise of the anti-nuclear movement and the Green Party in the late 1970s. As opposition to nuclear power grew and support for the Green Party (which entered government in 1998), so did public awareness of environmental and climate protection.

"It is true that at the beginning of Germany's energy transition, our main argument was about nuclear energy," Rainer Baake, one of the architects of Germany's first nuclear exit legislation and a former state secretary at the Energy Ministry, told Clean energy Wire. "But at the same time as phasing out nuclear power, we enacted the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) in 2000. With this law, we hope to prevent phasing out nuclear energy from leading to an increase in fossil power generation and a burden on the climate. In fact, much more has been achieved in the past two decades. Today, renewables generate much more electricity in Germany than nuclear power plants did in 2000, "said Baake, who is now managing director of the Climate Neutral Foundation.