Wolfgang Kubicki believes that in the face of crises “that can take on biblical proportions,” the lifetime of the nuclear reactors must be extended. The government sees it differently.
The FDP is increasing the pressure on the coalition partners SPD and Greens to keep the last three nuclear power plants running in view of the rapidly rising energy prices.
“It is urgently time to ensure the continued operation of the nuclear power plants for at least five years,” said the deputy FDP chairman Wolfgang Kubicki of the German Press Agency in Berlin. “In addition, we should use the domestic resources of oil and gas as quickly as possible instead of buying them expensively abroad.”
In view of an economic and energy crisis “that can take on biblical proportions”, it is completely irresponsible, especially for the Greens, not to even begin to consider nuclear power for energy production, said Kubicki. “The Greens’ fear of losing face obviously outweighs the responsibility for the economic viability of this country.”
However, it is unacceptable to take one’s own ideology as a benchmark when it comes to allowing pragmatism to prevail in exceptional situations, emphasized the Bundestag Vice President. “It’s not about the well-being of the Greens, but about a perspective for millions of people in this country.”
The discussions about the nuclear power plant running times had recently become more intense due to stagnant gas supplies in connection with the Russian war in Ukraine. In addition to CDU leader Friedrich Merz, FDP leader and Finance Minister Christian Lindner also brought longer terms into play and called for an “open debate” about it. In an emergency situation, it is about “physically securing our energy supply at any time and anywhere”.
The government disagrees
The federal government is currently not planning to re-examine possible service life extensions for the three nuclear power plants that are still active in Germany. The Ministry of the Environment is not aware of a renewed review, said a spokesman for the Ministry on Wednesday in Berlin. This is “not necessary due to the last test”. A spokesman for the Ministry of Economics also referred to the assessment of Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens), according to which continued operation of the power plants beyond the phase-out date of December 31, 2022 would not be justifiable for safety reasons.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Economics pointed out that in the event of a gas shortage, Germany would have a problem with providing heat and not electricity, which nuclear power plants would supply. “Nuclear power plants do not provide heat. Nuclear power plants supply electricity – permanently. And that’s why nuclear power makes no contribution at all in this situation where we have to save gas (…), »he explained.
At the beginning of the year, the environment and economics ministries examined a possible continued operation of the three remaining nuclear power plants in Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg and came to the conclusion that “extending the operating times would only make a very limited contribution” to solving the problem of energy supply bottlenecks would. A further operation of the nuclear power plant would therefore be associated with “very high economic, constitutional and safety risks”, according to the test report of March 8th.
Source: Stern
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