Germany is rethinking its plan to exit nuclear power by the end of the year as concerns grow that Russia’s moves to cut gas supplies could trigger a winter power crisis in the biggest economy of Europe
A U-turn on nuclear energy would mark a major step in German energy policy. It would be a particularly bitter pill for the Greens, a pillar of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government with roots in the country’s anti-nuclear movement.
A person close to the Greens leadership said the party had concluded that “all options should be on the table” in the event of an energy crisis. One such option could be to extend the life of the Isar 2 nuclear station in Bavaria beyond the December 31 closure date.
The person said the extension would only be for a few months and that any decision would depend on the results of a stress test being conducted to determine whether Germany’s power supply can continue to operate even “in aggravated conditions”.
The stress test is expected to show that Bavaria, in particular, could face problems with winter electricity supply. The state, a key industrial center, has relatively little wind and solar power and relies heavily on gas and nuclear for electricity.
A spokesman for Scholz said the chancellor would also await those findings before deciding on a course of action. The government would take the decision “totally free of ideologies and openly”, added the spokesman.
The nuclear rethink underscores how Russia’s escalating economic war with the West has led to a new willingness by the German political class to abandon a signature policy introduced to accelerate the green transition.
The latest sign of the Kremlin’s willingness to weaponize its energy exports came on Monday when gas giant Gazprom warned that flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would be cut to 33 million cubic meters from Wednesday, only a fifth of its capacity and half of current levels. European gas prices soared on the announcement and hit five-month highs.
The energy crisis has forced Scholz’s government to take decisions that go against typical green politics, including restarting some of Germany’s highly polluting coal-fired power plants. His coalition had said it wanted to phase out coal plants entirely, “ideally” by the end of the decade.
Germany decided to abandon nuclear power in 2011, following the Fukushima disaster in Japan. The three nuclear facilities still in operation, Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2, will be closed at the end of the year.
The government, made up of Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), has stuck to its planned timetable for the phase-out of nuclear weapons even after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Green Economy Minister Robert Habeck has insisted that Russian gas was largely used to heat homes and industry, with nuclear playing no role. The Greens have also stressed that the three nuclear plants accounted for just 6 percent of Germany’s electricity produced in the first quarter, far less than gas at 13 percent.
But with many consumers switching from gas to alternative forms of energy, experts say demand for electricity will grow, and nuclear could help plug the demand gap.
Pressure for a rethink on nuclear power has been growing inside and outside the government, with the FDP and the opposition Christian Democrats calling for a shutdown for all three nuclear power plants.
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Even prominent greens have shown flexibility on this issue. Katrin Göring-Eckardt, the vice president of the Green Parliament, said on Sunday that Bavaria had a “special problem” that could be solved by allowing Isar-2 to continue operating beyond the end of the year.
Franziska Brantner, another influential Green who is state secretary in the economy ministry, also hinted in a television interview that Germany might have to keep its nuclear plants without “solidarity” with France, which has forced to close many of its reactors. due to corrosion problems and to import energy from its neighbors.
Additional reporting by Valentina Pop in Brussels