this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2024
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[–] Tarte@kbin.social 135 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

The article is badly researched.

This “red-green” coalition banned new reactors, announced a shutdown of existing ones by 2022

The red-green coalition did not announce the 2022 date. They (Greens/SPD) announced a soft phase-out between 2015-2020 in conjunction with building renewables. This planned shift from nuclear to renewables was reverted by Merkel (CDU = conservatives) in 2010. They (CDU) changed their mind one year later in 2011 and announced the 2022 date; but without the emphasis on replacing it with renewables. This back and forth was also quite the expensive mistake by the CDU on multiple levels, because energy corporations were now entitled financial compensation for their old reactors.

[–] realitista@lemm.ee 63 points 6 months ago (1 children)

IMO a lot of this had to do with Schroeder's and Merkel's connections with Russia and running the country's manufacturing base on cheap gas and oil.

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[–] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 59 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (50 children)

As I suspected. Conservatism is the reason we can't have nice things. Again.

[–] Godric@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

What the fuck are you talking about? Did you even bother to read the article?

"The older activist generation deliberately rejected the mainstream expertise of the time, which then regarded centralised nuclear power as the future and mass deployment of distributed renewables as a pipe dream.

This earlier movement was instrumental in creating Germany’s Green Party—today the world’s most influential—which emerged in 1980 and first entered national government from 1998 to 2005 as junior partner to the Social Democrats. This “red-green” coalition banned new reactors, announced a shutdown of existing ones by 2022, and passed a raft of legislation supporting renewable energy.

That, in turn, turbocharged the national deployment of renewables, which ballooned from 6.3 percent of gross domestic electricity consumption in 2000 to 51.8 percent in 2023"

Ah yes, the arch-conservatives, the Greens and Social Democrats.

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[–] Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 33 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Because there was a massive coal lobby and Merkel was complete garbage. Next.

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[–] SigmarStern@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 6 months ago (5 children)

When I was a kid, Chernobyl happened. We weren't that far away and although I was very little I still remember the fear and uncertainty in my parent's faces. The following years were marked by research about what we can no longer eat, where our food comes from, etc

I also remember the fights about where to store nuclear waste.

I don't want to burn coal. I am pretty upset about what happened to our clean energy plans. But I will also never trust nuclear again. And I think, so do many in my generation.

[–] 100@fedia.io 73 points 6 months ago (2 children)

which is funny because fossil fuels are everywhere poisoning the air and environment in general, not different from the nuclear radiation bogeyman

[–] BestBouclettes@jlai.lu 45 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Especially when coal rejects a lot more radioactive materials in the air than nuclear power

[–] Tarte@kbin.social 11 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

There are still large areas in southern Germany where you’re not allowed to eat wild mushrooms and every boar that is hunted must be tested for radiation. That is because of the fallout from Chernobyl 38 years ago and 1400 km away.

[–] BestBouclettes@jlai.lu 25 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

For sure, but there are places in Germany and everywhere in Europe where you shouldn't be eating or drinking anything that comes out of the ground because of coal emissions, and places you can't do anything in because of the gigantic coal mines. And that's still currently happening and will keep happening for the foreseeable future.

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[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Which is mostly due to fear(mongering) and not real residue.

And see another comment about coal emissions which are happening right now.

[–] Tarte@kbin.social 12 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Please do note the official warnings of the BFS (Federal Office for Radiation Protection). Contamination of forests with Caesium-137 is a health risk in many southern Bavarian forests. It's half-life period is 30 years. The disaster was in 1986. That means it's still roughly half of it there and the layered forest grounds preserve radiation well.

If you're a mushroom forager on vacation in southern Bavaria - just don't do it. Or at least inform yourself which types of mushrooms you shouldn't eat in particular for radiation reasons.

General information and warnings (2022):
https://www.bfs.de/DE/themen/ion/notfallschutz/notfall/tschornobyl/umweltfolgen.html#doc6055566bodyText3

Specifically regarding mushrooms (2019):
https://www.bfs.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/BfS/DE/broschueren/ion/info-wildpilze.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=7

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[–] realitista@lemm.ee 35 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Actually coal plants which are in use, spew thousands of times of nuclear material into the air what any nuclear plant ever has.

[–] Photon@feddit.de 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Including Chernobyl and Fukushima?

[–] Snoopey@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago
[–] Pringles@lemm.ee 26 points 6 months ago (12 children)

The best thing to do when you fall off a horse, is climb straight back up on it. Rejecting almost limitless power because of an accident almost 40 years ago is foolish to me. Luckily research didn't completely stop and modern plants are a lot safer with a lot of medical applications for the waste.

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[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago (6 children)

Sorry but this sounds like: A car crashed when I was young because the driver was drunk. I will never trust a car again.

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[–] boyi@lemmy.sdf.org 17 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Surprisingly the title is not: Germany ditched coal and did went back to it.

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[–] Gloomy@mander.xyz 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Predictions that the nuclear exit would leave Germany forced to use more coal and facing rising prices and supply problems, meanwhile, have not transpired. In March 2023—the month before the phaseout—the distribution of German electricity generation was 53 percent renewable, 25 percent coal, 17 percent gas, and 5 percent nuclear. In March 2024, it was 60 percent renewable, 24 percent coal, and 16 percent gas.

Overall, the past year has seen record renewable power production nationwide, a 60-year low in coal use, sizeable emissions cuts, and decreasing energy prices.

This is my biggest take away from this article.

[–] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Yeah but if Germany hadn't been so anti-nuclear, by 2023 it could have been (for example) 53% renewable, 5% coal, 17% gas and 25% nuclear. Comparing the dying tail end of nuclear to just after it finally died is not useful.

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