Scholz overrides allies, keeps 3 German Nuke-plants running

BERLIN, Oct 19, (AP): German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ordered ministers Monday to prepare to keep all of the country’s three remaining nuclear plants running until mid-April, putting his foot down on an issue that had threatened to split his three-party government.

The decision comes as Germany tries to prevent a possible energy crunch due to cuts in fuel supplies from Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Scholz’s office said he announced the decision in a letter to the Cabinet, an unusual move reflecting the deep divisions that had riven his junior coalition partners on the issue in recent weeks.

The environmentalist Greens, led by Economy and Energy Minister Robert Habeck, had argued that only two nuclear plants in southern Germany - Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2 - should be able to keep operating beyond the scheduled shutdown on Dec. 31 to ease possible power shortages over the winter.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the pro-business Free Democrats had suggested all three - including the Emsland reactor in the northwest should stay online, even beyond April if necessary. Some Free Democrats had even called for three other nuclear plants that were shut down last year to be powered up again in the face of high energy prices and possible blackouts.

Successive German governments have committed to ending the country’s use of nuclear power by the end of the year as part of its transition to safe, renewable energy.

Supplies

But the war in Ukraine, which has resulted in a sharp cut in natural gas supplies from Russia to Europe, prompted Germany to reactivate old coal and oilfired power plants. Climate activists such as Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, and others, have argued that it’s a mistake for Germany to switch off its existing nuclear plants if that means burning more planet-heating fossil fuels.

Experts say the nuclear power plants are mainly needed to maintain grid stability at times of high electricity demand - including from neighboring France, whose own nuclear reactors have faced a series of problems this year.

In addition to temporarily extending the lifetime of Germany’s nuclear plants, Scholz said his Social Democrat-led government will propose “ambitious” legislation to increase energy efficiency, enshrining in law a plan to end coal use in western Germany by 2030 and building new power plants that can burn hydrogen.

Germany’s energy industry lobby group BDEW welcomed the temporary delay in phasing out nuclear power.

“The government should now devote all of its energy to quickly taking the necessary decisions for securing an affordable and climate-friendly energy supply in the short and long-term,” its chief executive, Kerstin Andreae, told the Handelsblatt business daily.

But Greenpeace criticized the decision, saying recent suspected attacks on gas pipelines and rail infrastructure highlighted the risks to Germany’s nuclear reactors.

“In an age of hybrid warfare, the (nuclear power plants) must not stay online a day longer, continuing to operate them is absolutely irresponsible,” the environmental group said.

Senior members of Germany’s environmentalist Green party indicated Tuesday that they would accept Scholz’s decision to extend the lifetime of the country’s three remaining nuclear plants for a few months to head off possible a winter energy crunch.

Decision

The reactors were long scheduled to be switched off at the end of the year, but Economy Minister Robert Habeck agreed to let two plants run until midApril amid the energy disruptions caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Some members in Germany’s government insisted that all three reactors should stay online until 2024, prompting a Cabinet spat that Scholz overruled on Monday.

Habeck told public broadcaster ZDF that the plan was “one I can work with, one I can live with.”

Scholz made clear Tuesday that he considers the decision final.

“On April 15, it’s over for nuclear power plants in Germany,” he told reporters in Berlin. “That means there also won’t be any more fuel rods produced for German power plants.”

Some of the plants might use up their fuel before mid-April, he noted. “It depends what’s left in the fuel rods.”

The Greens’ chairman, Omid Nouripour, welcomed the fact that Scholz’s decision ends debate within government about the future of nuclear power in Germany.

“That’s good,” he tweeted.

Still, Nouripour said the third reactor, Emsland in the northwest of the country, wasn’t required to safeguard Germany’s power supply. Experts have made a similar case, arguing that the north of the country has so much wind power it doesn’t need nuclear energy.

An alliance of anti-nuclear groups in the Emsland region slammed Scholz’s decision. They said the aging reactor poses a considerable risk, noting that it hasn’t undergone periodic safety inspections for years.

The groups said they plan to stage protests against the decision in the coming weeks.