ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
7.8 German nuclear shutdown?The phasing out of nuclear power has always
been an article of faith for the German Greens,
so they made it a condition of the October 1998
SPD–Green coalition agreement that the
government would launch a decommissioning
programme for Germany’s nineteen nuclear
power-stations. J ̈urgen Trittin, the Green
environment minister, wanted a rapid
decommissioning programme with all reactors
being closed within twenty years, and an end to
the export of nuclear waste by January 2000.
His proposals met strong resistance from the
energy industry:- German nuclear energy companies had firm
contracts, guaranteed by the government,
to export nuclear waste to Britain and
France for reprocessing. To renege on
these contracts would be diplomatically
damaging and make the government liable
to pay massive financial compensation. - The nuclear energy companies responded
with a strong campaign calling for a longer
lifespan for their reactors. By focusing their
efforts on the SPD, they were able to exploit
the weakness of the red–green coalition
during 1999–2000 as it stumbled from one
crisis to another and suffered a series of
setbacks inL ̈anderelections. - Nuclear power contributed around 36 per
cent of German energy capacity. If reactors
were to be closed, the lost generating
capacity, at least in the short term, would be
replaced by fossil fuel sources, which would
raise carbon emissions.
The arguments dragged on for over eighteen
months, causing serious tensions between the
SPD and the Greens, until a decommissioning
package was eventually agreed with the energy
producers, and formally approved in 2001. This
package provided that:
each nuclear plant would be set an operating
life on the basis of an average overall
lifespan of thirty-two years from the start
of commercial production (but productive
capacity could be switched between plants
so the early closure of one plant might allow
another to stay open longer than thirty-
two years).
recycling of waste would be halted ‘as soon
as possible’.
This diluted package bears witness to the
capacity of a united and powerful industry
sector to influence policy. Indeed, the German
nuclear industry should not be written off yet,
for much could change by 2021 (when most
reactors are due to be phased out), which
could yet see this agreement torn up. Indeed,
Angela Merkel campaigned in the 2005 federal
election on a promise to allow German nuclear
power-stations to operate beyond 2021.
However, the SPD insisted that the new
Merkel-led CDU-SPD government leave the
agreement intact. But the issue will not
disappear whilst Germany is under pressure to
reduce carbon emissions to prevent climate
change and to ensure energy security in the
face of new international threats to its oil and
gas supplies.power. In 2005, thirty reactors were under construction around the world,
mostly in Asia, including nine in India, while South Korea expects to have
built a further eight reactors by 2015 (World Nuclear Association 2006 ).
Elsewhere, governments have found it much easier to stop building new
plants than to close existing ones. Nuclear reactors have high capital costs
but, once built, they are relatively cheap to operate. Closure will harm the
nuclear industry and make many people unemployed. The combination of