Germany: ten years after Angela Merkel’s decision to exit nuclear power, what results for the country in term – Franceinfo

Six months after deciding to extend the lifespan of nuclear power plants, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced, in 2011, aafter the nuclear disaster in Fukushima (Japan), their closure. “We want the energy of the future to be safer“, she declared on May 30, 2011. The commitment was kept: the cooling towers were demolished one by one. Germany had 17 nuclear power plants in operation in 2011; there are only six left. , which will all be disconnected by next year.

One of the last reactors is located in a Bavarian village, Gundremmingen. Here, many still have not digested the Chancellor’s decision. “To make such a 180 degree turn, to say at the time: ‘Now everything is over’, and to give closing dates for each plant, that shocked me“, affirms Wolfgang Mayer, former mayor of Gundremmingen.

But in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the results are far from positive. Even if for ten years, Angela Merkel has bet on green energies and that renewable now produces a third of electricity in Germany, renewable, precisely, is not enough to replace nuclear. So, 44% of electricity in Germany still comes from fossil fuels, such as gas and coal. Huge mines continue to gain ground.