German nuclear plants back in play? CDU calls for expert assessment of restarting operations

Leaders of Germany’s largest opposition party have called for an expert assessment of the possibility of restarting the nuclear power plants that were shut down last year. They describe Germany’s phase-out of nuclear power during the energy crisis as an ideologically motivated and misguided decision.

In the policy document “A New Energy Agenda for Germany”, politicians from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) outline their priorities for the country’s energy policy. In the position paper, they describe Germany’s phase-out of nuclear power during the energy crisis as an ideologically motivated and misguided decision by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition.

“During the energy crisis, we called for all available potential to be mobilised to secure energy supplies, including temporarily continuing to operate nuclear power plants and expanding renewable energy sources without discrimination,” the CDU says in the document.

Germany shut down its last three nuclear power plants in April 2023, three months later than originally decided by the coalition government of the CDU and the Free Democrats (FDP) in 2011. Germany’s current government kept the three plants running for longer in response to the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Contrary to the ideas set out in the CDU document, party leader Friedrich Merz said at an energy conference earlier this year that he considers the issue of Germany’s phase-out of nuclear power settled.

Ingrid Nestle, energy and climate spokesperson for the Greens, a member of the governing coalition, said the CDU’s proposals would celebrate a “museum of German industry” instead of supporting future-oriented technologies. Restarting the decommissioned nuclear reactors would be costly and would fail to take into account the substantial follow-on costs of operating nuclear power plants, Nestle added.

“If the CDU is interested in energy security, renewable energy is the key,” Nestle told the dpa news agency, according to an article published by Zeit Online.

The CDU also called for accelerating the search for a permanent repository for radioactive waste in Germany and drawing on the experience of European partner countries. The party also supports research and development into fourth- and fifth-generation nuclear power plants and small modular reactors (SMRs).

In addition, CDU politicians said Germany should no longer permanently close any coal-fired power plants unless sufficient capacity from gas-fired power plants and other replacement technologies is available.

“Alongside the consistent expansion of renewable energy sources, new dispatchable capacity must finally be introduced as a reliable pillar of our energy supply,” the document says.