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| Europe |
| German parliament approves nuclear shutdown |
| 2011-07-01 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] German politicians overwhelmingly approved on Thursday plans to shut the country's nuclear plants by 2022, putting Europe's biggest economy on the road to an ambitious build-up of renewable energy. The lower house of parliament voted 513-79 for the shutdown plan drawn up by Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... 's government after Japan's post-earthquake nuclear disaster. Most of the opposition voted in favor; eight politicians abstained. Lawmakers sealed for good the shutdown of eight of the older reactors, which have been off the grid since March. Germany's remaining nine reactors will be shut down in stages by the end of 2022. By 2020, Germany wants to double the share of energy stemming from water, wind, sun or biogas to at least 35 percent. Until this year, nuclear energy accounted for a bit less than a quarter of Germany's power supply. "Some people abroad ask: will Germany manage this? Can it be done? It is the first time that a major industrial country has declared itself ready to carry through this technological and economic revolution," Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen told politicians. "The message from today is this: the Germans are getting to work," he said. "This will be good for our country, because we all stand together. So let's get to work." The government hasn't put a specific price tag on the plan to shift to renewable sources. "Of course it will cost something, but it won't overburden anyone," Roettgen said. Thursday's vote completed a spectacular about-face on nuclear energy by Merkel's center-right coalition. Only last year, it had amended a previous center-left government's plan to abandon nuclear power by the early 2020s and extended the life span of Germany's 17 reactors by an average 12 years. After Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi plant was ravaged by an earthquake and tsunami, Merkel said the accident had prompted her to reevaluate the risks of nuclear power. Opposition leaders taunted the government over its U-turn, which Merkel initiated less than two weeks before a pair of state elections in March. "We are approving this out of full conviction, but you are doing it merely to preserve power," said Sigmar Gabriel, the head of the center-left Social Democrats. Renate Kuenast, the co-leader of the Greens' parliamentary group, said she didn't care why Merkel had changed course. "For me, it's enough of a historical irony that you now have to come close to what you fought for decades," she said. "Now no one can deny that Germany wants an energy turnaround," added Kuenast. Her party has always opposed nuclear energy, which has been unpopular in Germany since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster sent radioactivity drifting over the country. Still, she complained that the government's renewable energy target was "unambitious," arguing that Germany should be aiming for a share of well over 40 percent. "The world is watching us now, and we will have to do justice to that," Kuenast said. "That is the scale of this task: We must show that this works for the (world's) fourth-biggest industrial country." Parliament's upper house, which represents Germany's 16 states, is expected to endorse the plans next week, but much of the package doesn't formally require its approval. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Lemmee know how that works out when your electric bills take up half of your income, Deutschlanders. Stick to your principles. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-07-01 22:05 |
| #6 So they are going to rely on the magic unicorn that shits skittles to run the bonhoff? Just stupid. |
| Posted by: newc 2011-07-01 14:39 |
| #5 How many Germans does it take to change a light bulb? 6 1 to shiver in the dark and 5 to round up the bulbs family. |
| Posted by: S 2011-07-01 14:18 |
| #4 ...on the road to an ambitious build-up of renewable energy. I wonder what the Germans will think when everyone (but the "elites" of course) is shivering in the dark... |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2011-07-01 12:30 |
| #3 Aufiderzein. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-07-01 11:42 |
| #2 What do they do with their radioactive waste? What will they do with the reactor debris? Ship it to Iran? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2011-07-01 11:18 |
| #1 Her party has always opposed nuclear energy, which has been unpopular in Germany since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster sent radioactivity drifting over the country. Ignoring, of course, the radiation from the sun, which is the largest continuous nuclear reaction in the local neighborhood, and the cause of tens of thousands of skin cancer deaths annually. Then again, without the sun the availability of wind or flowing water would also be mute. There's a difference between 'there's nothing you can do about it' and 'safe'. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-07-01 09:47 |