4 ms·

Didn't German Green Party greenlight (sorry) driving down nuclear energy in favor of coal? Political parties tend to minmax popular support over success of pers

• brazzy 4y ago
  That is so simplified that it's basically just wrong. Nuclear power has been very unpopular in Germany since before Chernobyl. Phasing it out was a core goal of the Green party since its founding. They implemented it (on a decades-long timeline) when they first became part of a federal government in 1998. The decision was reversed by the Merkel government, which then reversed the reversal shortly after Fukushima. And it was never in favor of coal, neither in theory not in practice. Both nuclear and coal have been replaced to a large degree by renewables, and to a lesser degree by gas.
  • mach1ne 4y ago
    This was where I got the idea, must have seen this in HN some time ago: https://twitter.com/mark_lynas/status/1545345583262695424 https://twitter.com/mark_lynas/status/1545345583262695424 At least that source seems to claim exactly what I referred above.
    • brazzy 4y ago
      OK, we're talking about different time frames. The tweet is about two specific reactors that have long been scheduled to be shut down and where, in light of the current crisis, there was discussion about delaying that. Note that the decision was absolutely not just done by the Green party, and in good part based on statements from the power company that they cannot keep running them. My comment was about the long-term decision to phase out nuclear power in Germany, originally made 20 years ago.
      • mach1ne 4y ago
        Allright, thanks for the info - it's an interesting case for a foreigner.