Germany is closing its last few nuclear plants as warnings come about the stability of Europe’s long-term energy supply, according to Reuters.
Despite public opposition, the last three nuclear power stations in Germany will be shut down on Saturday, fulfilling its 2011 promise to shut down all reactors following the Fukushima disaster, a Japanese nuclear disaster that occurred after an earthquake, according to Reuters. Germany’s effort to close the plants was delayed after the beginning of the Ukraine-Russia war which caused the country to stop importing natural gas from Russia. (RELATED: Germany Stocks Up On Candles As Energy Crisis Rages)
“We are shutting down world-class plants that have been operated safely and reliably for decades by world-class staff and experts,” Leonhard Birnbaum, chief executive of Eon, a European utility company, told the Handelsblatt newspaper.
Through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Russia cut natural gas to Germany by 60% in June. Because Germany’s economy relies on Russia for 35% of its natural gas supply, households throughout the country suffered inflation as EU energy prices hit record highs in 2022.
The Green Party, a pro-renewable energy party in Germany, pushed for the nuclear plants to be shut down despite 67% of Germans wanting the reactors to remain open, according to the Financial Times.
General outside view of the Isar 2 nuclear power plant on April 13, 2023 in Essenbach, Germany. Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2 are Germany’s last three operating nuclear power plants and are scheduled to cease operation on April 15. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)
The closing of the plants comes amid concerns that Germany has not signed enough long-term contracts for liquefied natural gas to last through the winter and cover for Russia’s withholding of natural gas from the country, Reuters reported. Prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is being used across Europe as a solution to high prices and shortages, have increased as China has moved into the market.
“But since the green lobby in Europe has managed to persuade politicians wrongly that hydrogen to a large extent can replace natural gas as an energy carrier by 2030, Europe has become far too reliant on spot and short term purchases of LNG,” Morten Frisch, senior partner at Morten Frisch Consulting, told the outlet.
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