Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: Nazi Germany

Showing posts with label Nazi Germany. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Analysis: German nuclear revenue boost - a sting in the tail?

Future nuclear-waste management costs may burden Germany
Germany's government stands to earn billions of dollars in additional revenue through prolonging the lives of the country's nuclear plants, but it could also be burdened by the costs for disposing of nuclear waste. It is hard to estimate the expenses for cleaning up the facilities and determining a suitable location for the waste, according to the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection. "It depends on the size, on the amount of waste that has to be stored, on the operation of the site." Reuters

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Tens of thousands protest against German nuclear plan

Map shows nuclear power plants in Germany

Image via WikipediaTens of thousands demonstrated in Berlin Saturday against the government's proposal to extend the life of Germany's nuclear power plants for another decade or more. Waving banners and yellow and green balloons marked with the slogans of the anti-nuclear movement, they turned out in force to protest outside Chancellor Angela Merkel's headquarters.
The organisers -- environmental groups backed by left-leaning opposition parties -- put their numbers at 100,000, though police made it 37,000.
Special trains and 150 buses had been chartered to bring the demonstrators to Berlin from all over Germany.
Merkel's centre-right coalition agreed last weekend to lift the deadline of 2022 for the phasing out of nuclear power set by an earlier Social Democrat-led government.
The new plan would extend the lifetime of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors for an average of 12 years beyond the previously scheduled shutdown.
Calculations in the German media suggest that the last plant will not be switched off until 2040, and critics say that operators may get away with keeping some running for even longer than that.
"It's a disgrace. We feel cheated", Hartwig Bottcher said, a 66-year-old retired teacher.
"During this time the pile of nuclear waste increases and we still don't know what to do with it," said 19-year-old student Laura, preferring not to give her full name.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Anti-nuclear opinion powers German Greens to record support

by Staff Writers Berlin (AFP) Sept 15, 2010 Germany's opposition Green party has soared to a record 22-percent support, according to a poll published Wednesday, thanks in part to public ire over Chancellor Angela Merkel's nuclear energy plans. The survey by the independent research group Forsa showed the Greens gaining one point over last week to come within reach of Germany's main opposition party, the Social Democrats (SPD), which tallied 24 percent, down one point.
The Greens, born 30 years ago out of the environmentalist movement, fiercely oppose the centre-right government's scheme to extend the life of Germany's atomic energy plants by several years, unveiled this month.
While in power with the SPD between 1998 and 2005, the Greens successfully championed legislation that would have mothballed all 17 of the country's nuclear reactors by around 2020.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Poll: Germans oppose nuclear power extension

Image via WikipediaA majority of Germans oppose government plans to put off a shutdown of the country's nuclear power plants by an average 12 years, according to a poll released Friday.
The poll for ZDF television found that 61 percent opposed the plan announced earlier this week to undo a previous government's decade-old decision to shut down all German nuclear plants by 2021.
The poll of 1,221 people -- conducted Tuesday through Thursday -- found that 33 percent supported the change.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has portrayed the change as a way to keep energy cheap until more renewable energy is available. Merkel has described nuclear power as a "bridging technology" and there is no talk of Germany building any new nuclear plants.
Nuclear energy has been unpopular in Germany since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Merkel's Energy Plan Is 'A Gift to the Nuclear Industry'

Germany's nuclear plants were due to be phased out by 2021. Now Chancellor Merkel has given them a 12-year reprieve as part of a transition to a low-emissions future. German commentators are critical of the government's new energy strategy, calling it a victory for the nuclear lobby.

After months of debate, the German government announced a controversial new policy on Sunday evening to extend the lifespans of the nation's nuclear power plants. They were scheduled to go offline -- under a phase-out law forged under former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder -- by 2021 at the latest. Now, however, each viable reactor will run for an average of 12 years beyond its current decommissioning date, with newer reactors staying online for an additional 14 years.

Environmentalists have called the new policy a gift to the nuclear lobby. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has tried to soften the blow by arguing that nuclear energy plays an essential role as a "bridge" technology in a national transition from conventional fuels to renewable energies by the mid-21st century. Merkel's plan -- developed by her coalition government of conservative Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) -- promises significant government subsidies for wind, solar and biomass technologies, and it sets ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. The plan aims for an 80 percent slash in emissions by 2050.
The fact that nuclear energy is almost CO2-free may help achieve that goal, but the government also wants Germans to become more energy efficient. By supporting a national program of renovating German buildings it hopes to slash energy demand over the next four decades by 40 percent.