Brussels/Berlin. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen carried out a notable volte-face on nuclear energy in Paris. The architect of the ‘Green Deal’ now wants Europe to rely once again on nuclear power after the European Union effectively turned away from the technology. According to her plans, the construction of new power stations could even receive support from EU funds. At a nuclear energy summit in France she announced future EU risk guarantees worth €200 million for private investors willing to finance new nuclear technologies. ‘The funds will come from our emissions trading system,’ von der Leyen said in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris.
Germany’s government under Angela Merkel decided on a rapid nuclear phase-out in 2011 after the Fukushima earthquake, setting 2022 as the final deadline. A nuclear power station was damaged in the disaster, though there were no deaths caused by radiation, despite occasional claims to the contrary. Nevertheless, on 30 June 2011 the German Bundestag formally approved the withdrawal from nuclear power. The decision was widely regarded as an overreaction and was also shaped by domestic political considerations. At the time the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) feared losing the Baden-Württemberg election to the Greens, who used the Fukushima disaster during the campaign to stir fears about nuclear energy.
Von der Leyen herself, then a member of the Bundestag, voted in favour of the nuclear exit. She now regrets the shrinking role of nuclear power in Europe’s energy mix. In 1990 roughly one third of Europe’s electricity came from nuclear energy. The share has since fallen to just under 15 per cent. ‘I believe it was a strategic mistake for Europe to turn its back on a reliable, affordable source of low-emission electricity,’ von der Leyen said, explaining her change of course.
A global trend
In taking this position the Commission president is following a broader global trend. No other country has attempted to replicate what the Wall Street Journal once described as ‘the dumbest energy policy in the world’.
China alone currently has around 30 nuclear reactors under construction. ‘In recent years we have witnessed a global renaissance of nuclear energy, and Europe wants to be part of that renaissance,’ von der Leyen said in her address. ‘That is why today we are presenting a new European strategy for small modular reactors. Our goal is simple: we want this new technology to be ready for deployment in Europe by the early 2030s.’
Under von der Leyen’s plans, the smaller reactors are expected to play a key role alongside conventional nuclear plants in creating a more flexible, secure and efficient energy system. Until recently such ideas had received little support within the EU. The current shift therefore cannot have occurred entirely without preparation.
New financing
French President Emmanuel Macron called for new funding options to support the expansion of nuclear energy. ‘We must find ways to finance these projects more effectively, both conventional and innovative nuclear initiatives,’ Macron said at the opening of the meeting near Paris.
In line with the proposals later presented by the Commission president, the French leader argued that EU support mechanisms should be improved ‘to ensure the success of new nuclear projects just as much as that of renewable energy’. Macron thus repeated his long-standing demand that nuclear and renewable energy be treated on an equal footing. The European Union now appears to be moving closer to that idea.
Germany driving the wrong way
The first German politician to welcome von der Leyen’s remarks was the minister-president of Hesse, Boris Rhein of the CDU. Speaking to Bild he said: ‘The order of the day is to get back in rather than get out.’ Shutting down Germany’s remaining nuclear power plants at the height of the energy crisis had been a mistake, the CDU politician argued.
‘We must,’ he continued, ‘seriously examine a return to nuclear energy in Germany as well. It provides secure, affordable and climate-neutral power and makes us more independent, especially in times of global crisis.’ Rhein supports the construction of small modular reactors, which are currently being discussed or developed in several countries.
The reaction from the Social Democratic Federal Environment Minister Casten Schneider, by contrast, came swiftly on his ministry’s website. ‘It speaks volumes,’ he said, ‘that the core of this backward-looking strategy consists of new subsidies for nuclear power stations. If a risk technology still depends on state support after three quarters of a century and better alternatives already exist, conclusions should be drawn.’
Building a significant number of new reactors would require enormous investment that would then be missing elsewhere, Schneider argued. Moreover, small reactors have been promised for decades without achieving a real breakthrough. Even if individual plants are smaller, the overall problems would grow, the minister claimed, without specifying what those problems might be. Instead of relying on nuclear power capable of supplying base load, he prefers wind and solar energy, which depend on weather conditions. Coverage in Germany’s public broadcasting outlets, including Tagesschau, has also maintained the controversial view that mini-reactors could become a subsidy sink.
An irreversible German exit?
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has described Germany’s nuclear exit as irreversible. After a meeting in Berlin with the Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš, he said he regretted the decision but would adhere to it. Merz added that he personally shared von der Leyen’s assessment that abandoning nuclear power had been a mistake.
The remark raises an obvious question. If the decision was wrong, why continue to uphold it? The answer consists of three letters: SPD. Merz knows that his current coalition partner would never support a return to nuclear energy, and any such initiative could risk bringing down the government.
Germany still has several nuclear power plants that have been shut down but not yet fully dismantled. With energy prices rising – a trend unlikely to ease given the war against Iran and its consequences – the feasibility of a return could at least be examined by halting dismantling work for the time being. The next step would be to determine which reactors might realistically be reactivated, how long that would take and at what cost.
Germany’s nuclear exit is ‘irreversible’ only because Friedrich Merz is unwilling to confront his smaller coalition partner, which is currently struggling to retain representation in a state parliament after a recent election.
The great silence on nuclear power
Requests for comment sent to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and to all parliamentary groups in the Bundestag remained unanswered. The silence illustrates how sensitive the issue has become.
Germany lacks sufficient base-load electricity generation. The last three nuclear power plants shut down in recent years alone were capable of supplying about 6.5 per cent of the country’s electricity demand regardless of weather conditions. Together they could have covered between 10 and 15 per cent of Germany’s base-load demand with carbon-neutral power.
However much the chancellor and the coalition may try to avoid the issue, nuclear energy remains the elephant in the room – one the current government cannot ignore indefinitely.
It is also striking that Germany’s head of government, who regularly claims a leadership role in Europe, offers little more than a comment from the sidelines on such a crucial issue while senior figures in his own political camp take the opposite view.
Germany’s rejection of 1970s- and 1980s-era nuclear technology should not mean closing the door to future technologies, CSU parliamentary group leader Alexander Hoffmann told the magazine Stern. Germany should invest in research on fourth- and fifth-generation nuclear energy and consider the construction of small reactors, he added. Such reactors are climate-neutral, safe and comparatively cost-effective. They could strengthen the country’s independence in energy supply.
Sepp Müller, deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group responsible for economic policy, also welcomed von der Leyen’s remarks. Former family minister Kristina Schröder has publicly called for the Atomic Energy Act to be amended in order to allow the construction of modern mini-reactors again. The parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn is likewise considered a supporter of nuclear power. That leaves the chancellor in a certain tension with leading figures within his own party.
One point is clear. If he wished, the German chancellor could assemble a parliamentary majority in favour of returning to nuclear energy – the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) would be ready to support such a move to end what critics call Germany’s energy-policy wrong turn. For the time being, however, no one in the CDU/CSU appears willing to play that card.