Germany shut down its last nuclear plants in 2023. As global energy demands are increasing, the country is asking whether that decision came at a cost.
In this episode of Fissionary, Mary and Jordan head to Germany to talk with educator and Mothers for Nuclear Deutschland co-founder Britta Augustin about the country’s changing nuclear conversation. From rising energy prices and economic pressure to shifting public opinion and growing political support, Britta explains why nuclear is once again becoming part of Germany’s energy debate.
The energy crisis, which was already known in in 2021, that this energy crisis can lead to an economy crisis. And this is what's unfolding now. The energy prices driving our industry out of the country since many years. Lower taxes, lower income for the state and higher prices due to the energy prices. And this is now affecting everybody, so everybody is coming to the real problems.
With all of these factors, Britta is helping change the conversation in Germany. She says Germany’s market prices for energy are three times higher than they were when they had nuclear energy. Needless to say, there are regrets in Germany.
There is a deep regret, because a lot of people—you don't hear from these people in the media—but a lot people experience how it feels firsthand. You have the communities who lived around the power plants. The power plants where they paid taxes, really huge amounts of taxes, so these communities around, the villages around the nuclear power plant, they could afford everything!
We’re seeing people over in Germany, the rest of Europe, and the whole world realize we need nuclear. While it is unfortunate that places like Germany have closed their nuclear plants, the good news is there is time to reverse course. More and more folks are speaking up so we can create change.
More and more politicians speak out, and also people, journalists speak out, people from the economy speak out, more and people. This is a development since many years. And Nuklearia is beyond politics. We want to show everybody that—that nuclear is fine... So, this is the report we will publish soon to show, nope! It's not expensive and it's not too slow when we build them back.
To learn more about the history of nuclear in Germany and nuclear in Europe in the wake of Chernobyl, be sure to tune in!
The next episode airs on Thursday, August 6. Make sure to tune in, Fissionaries!
