| This is all propaganda of the nuclear lobby. > Germany didn't avoid nuclear by switching to renewables. It does so by burning coal and building gas-fired power plants. Germany is constantly reducing gas consumption.[1] From 2000-2024 it reduced electricity generation from coal by 61%.[2] > How to manage a grid fully on intermitent power sources is an open question. There is at this point in time no answer to this. Only details are open. (Compared to the open question of long term storage of nuclear wast these are very minor problems.) The general strategy is clear: use constantly available renewables (offshore wind, geothermal), connect distant regions for mutual compensation, energy storage. Personally I think it neglegible if a very small percentage of fossil technology were held in reserve for emergency power generators. > At the moment, Germany fires up extremely dirty power generation capacity every time there is a shortage. We are in a transition period. It is impossible to suddenly move to complete renewables. Responsible for the rather slow progress are not those people who pushed for the switch to renewables a long time ago, but those who wanted to drag it out as long as possible. These advocates of fossil fuels were the same individuals and companies that wished to extend the use of nuclear energy. > Meanwhile, all europeans bear the costs of Germany shortsightedness - as usual - since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Since September 2022 Germany imported no gas from Russia.[3] Meanwhile, the nuclear industries of France remains the sole buyer of enriched uranium from Russia in the EU. Admittedly, it has considerably reduced its imports from Russia itself,[4] but is still heavily dependent imports from Russia's sphere of influence (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan).[5] The same applies to the USA.[6] > With nuclear, it's pretty clear how to run a grid. Heck, France has been doing so for decades. The question is how to build it cheaply at scale but at least we have some good ideas and experience about how to do that. I do not deny that it is possible to operate a reasonably stable electrical network with dirty energy, apart from the regular shortages in dry summers and during heavy frosts. But Germany is ambitious and is going to show the world that it is possible to do it with clean energy. The nuclear lobbyists fear most that this will be successful. This is the only way to explain why they are attacking Germany so fiercely, even though they could actually sit back and wait to see if it succeeds. They fear for their business. [1] https://energiewende.bundeswirtschaftsministerium.de/EWD/Red... [2] https://www.iea.org/countries/germany/coal [3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1332783/german-gas-impor... [4] https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2025-01-eu-and-us-re... [5] https://en.fergana.news/news/137148/ [6] https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2025-06-18/rus... |