[WinstonSmith84]

> lack of developed nuclear power

Well, Germany had a few (remaining) nuclear power plants, and the lasts were shut down this year for political reasons. Apparently, it's better to import gas from Qatar and burn coal in the meantime while enjoying a (partially) self inflicted recession.

[gregman1]

The lost generations of nuclear engineers in Germany is a concerning issue. Training a nuclear engineer requires a long-term commitment, from sparking interest in the field to building new plants in Europe. Without a new generation of nuclear engineers, Germany will struggle to maintain its nuclear power plants and develop new ones. It's crucial to invest in education and training programs to attract and retain young talent in the nuclear industry. Doing it today may result in a new power plant in like… 60-100 years.

[hef19898]

Besides some random commenters on the internet, nobody swriously links the complex nuclear exit in Germany to the current recession.

[asah]

? Sorry why?

[oezi]

The remaining nuclear power plants just had 4GW of output. Just this year alone 12 GW of renewables will come online.

[cubefox]

That's a dishonest comparison as wind and solar are extremely volatile and can't replace a stable power source. You need something like coal for that.

[oezi]

You need peaking power plants such as Gas to cover volatility.

The comparison is a bit dishonest because it doesn't include the capacity factor of either technology:

Solar ~11%

Wind ~21%

Nucear ~90%

[411111111111111]

The nuclear power plants that were shut down would’ve needed extremely expensive maintenance to keep them running.

It’s a really complicated issue, with lots of misinformation floating around on both sides of the discussion. After all, nuclear power plants aren’t actually economically viable either without heavy subsidisation and socialising the trash management (at least the ones we’ve had in Germany).

While I can’t say wherever Germany should’ve built more nuclear power plants… I’m however certain that most online discussions about the topic are extremely misinformed. The biggest reason for this situation is probably corruption, some of which has been proven and reported on going back decades with Schroeder for example.

[cubefox]

> The nuclear power plants that were shut down would’ve needed extremely expensive maintenance to keep them running.

That's false. The reason for the shot down was not economical but political. We pay an extremely high price for our nuclear delusions.

[411111111111111]

It’s both true. Their maintenance was delayed for years because of that political decision to shut them down, which worsened the situation.

And for the record: I never claimed that the decision to shut them down wasn’t politically motivated, I just pointed out multiple reasons why it wasn’t completely bonkers. The way you phrased your point also makes it pretty transparent why misinformation campaigns work so well. You once heard one part of the story and now believe to understand a very multilayered situation.

[cubefox]

Calling the situation multilayered is just an excuse to partly justify this terrible mistake. There is no doubt that the cost of shutting them down far exceeds the cost of letting them run, so the remark about "extremely expensive" maintenance is just false.

[hef19898]

That kind of corruption goes bavk to the likes of Strauss. Otherwise, fully agree.