The light is still on. It attracts moths. And proposals from the mothball box of energy policy. Extending the service life of the three remaining nuclear power plants is not only demanded by Union politicians, but now again by FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr. Strange, because only last week he voted against it in the Bundestag.
Certainly, the energy supply is becoming more and more precarious. Now Gazprom is also waiting for Nord Stream 1 – and Germany is waiting to see if gas will flow again soon. But the three nuclear power plants are not suitable as a replacement for gas-fired power plants. Even the operators EnBW and RWE see it that way.
New fuel rods would come in a year at the earliest, too late for the next winter. In general, the nuclear power plants could only replace around one percent of Germany’s gas requirements. And above all: the money for this would be lacking when renewables were expanded.
But that would be just right for the beaming men of the FDP and the Union. They use the gas crisis as an excuse to open the door to nuclear power again – as a supposedly clean option in difficult times. Union-led state governments have blocked the expansion of wind power with exaggerated distance rules. Now they want to take the wind out of the sails of green energy again.
