IAEA chief: It would be rational for Germany to return to nuclear power

A return to nuclear power would be logical and rational for Germany, according to Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He told the DPA news agency. He noted that Germany is the only country that had nuclear power plants but has completely stopped using nuclear energy.

Other countries that initially announced they would do the same have since changed their decisions. Grossi said it was therefore „no surprise“ that some German parties are calling for a return to nuclear power. He said countries that use nuclear energy want to use more of it, while countries that do not use nuclear power want to start. „There is only one country that has withdrawn completely: Germany,“ the IAEA chief noted.

DPA reports that German opposition parties CDU and CSU last week described last year’s shutdown of the country’s final nuclear power plants as a mistake by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government. The conservative parties say it would now be necessary to find out whether restarting the plants would still be possible „under technically and financially justifiable conditions“.

Germany shut down its last three nuclear reactors in April last year. The shutdown came later than originally planned because of the energy crisis.

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel of the CDU began Germany’s phase-out of nuclear power in response to the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in March 2011.

Scholz succeeded Merkel as head of the German government in 2021. Until last week, his Social Democrats governed with the Free Democrats and the Greens. The Free Democrats have since left the coalition, and Germany is facing an early election.