[creesch]

> Can't believe it's just for political populism, there must be something more substantial.

Can you expand on what you mean by that? Also, generalizing "German" nations like this does seem a bit odd to me. Austria has a very clear and different history with nuclear power compared to Germany where it is only recently that they vowed to get rid of nuclear. For the latter case, it very much was due to events around the Fukushima nuclear accident what contributed greatly to the decision.

[rob74]

Not sure about the rest, but I can definitely explain why Germany has (had) nuclear power plants and Austria doesn't: lobbying! Siemens wanted an opportunity to show off its technology, so all NPPs in West Germany were built by them. Austria didn't have such implications, so no nuclear power. Lobbying (by the strong automobile industry) is also the reason why the German autobahns still have no general speed limit and are still free to use for cars (paid by taxes of course). Austria BTW has both a speed limit and a toll for its freeways (and no domestic car manufacturers).

[externedguy]

History has shown that German automotive industry has huge power, so things like nuclear ban, shady emission restrictions, etc. seem like just the tip of the iceberg.

[cinntaile]

Are you really insinuating that the German automotive industry is behind the nuclear ban? Why would they do that?

[Moldoteck]

german auto companies aren't that competitive in ev field and i'm not sure they want to. Thousands of ppl are working at those and that work is related to combustion engine design, switching to ev might mean a huge blow for them. Nuclear, if done like in france/japan/korea, means cheap(er) reliable electric energy which would motivate more ppl to switch to ev's and since there are other players like tesla (more popular) or something from byd (cheaper) german auto industry can be in a tough position.

[cinntaile]

France, Japan and Korea are all countries with a big vested interest in ICE vehicles so why doesn't your reasoning apply to them?

[Moldoteck]

the interest in ice vehicles is either smaller and smaller lobby from them or the countries had little natural resources and national interest was put first, but who knows

[externedguy]

Keep in mind that I'm stupid in politics and economy and I did not invest meaningful time into studying them, but:

I think generally accepted nuclear power is a literal threat to the German automotive industry. MB, VW Group, BMW, and others are not ages ahead of Chinese manufacturers in EV sector like they are in case with ICE cars.

[externedguy]

If Germany was so worried about accidents, wouldn't they have fights and serious arguments with the neighbors like France that is packed with nuclear fuel, plants, and the French character of seeking endless revolutions?

Germany intentionally did something that they knew will hurt its economy, there should be a very profound reason for taking such a hit. Who would be ok to take such a hit because of a "fear"?

My generalization about the German nations may be really inaccurate here, I just thought they all had a huge influence on each other (which affects lots of previous and future decisions).

[rob74]

They do - e.g. before its closure, there was a lot of German (and Swiss) opposition to the Fessenheim NPP, located just across the Rhine from Germany (the English Wikipedia article only mentions it briefly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fessenheim_Nuclear_Power_Plant..., but the German one has more details, including a long list of somewhat significant incidents https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernkraftwerk_Fessenheim#Betri...)

[lis]

For a lot of people in Germany it's not about the risk of an accident, but rather the cost of building and decomissioning nuclear reactors.

[Moldoteck]

they are in fact against france's nuclear and are trying very hard to not include nuclear as a green source to not give it eu funding.

But there are other reasons ofc including lobying from russia and auto industry