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This was not decided by the greens only. From the article: > Yet the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011 caused German sentiments to shift strongly aga

This was not decided by the greens only. From the article: > Yet the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011 caused German sentiments to shift strongly against atomic energy once more, and Ms. Merkel abruptly reversed course. Her government passed a law to phase out Germany’s 17 nuclear reactors by the end of 2022. Similarly in the neighbouring Austria, nuclear power is prohibited in the constitution, not by a political party.

pantalaimon 4y ago
You can still visit the nuclear power plants that were built but never switched on https://youtu.be/WUVZbBBHrI4 https://youtu.be/WUVZbBBHrI4
Traubenfuchs 4y ago
> in the neighbouring Austria, nuclear power is prohibited Which is funny, because we actually built a pretty much complete nuclear power plant, Zwentendorf. It‘s now a unique museum. A vote of just 50.47 % ruined our radiant future... Also we do have one research reactor left right in the city. I was blessed enough to visit it once.
- ekianjo 4y ago
  > A vote of just 50.47 % ruined our radiant future... There really should be a rule that important decisions can't pass with a tiny majority
  - dragonwriter 4y ago
    > There really should be a rule that important decisions can’t pass with a tiny majority There are at least two major problems with such a rule: (1) On an important question, “yes” and “no” are both important decisions. (2) Who decides what is “important”? You can make a rule that is closer to “you can’t make specific kinds of deviations from the status quo without a supermajority vote”, but that’s…very different from “important decisions”.
- TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
  Now you are buying nuclear power from Czechia.
- HyperSane 4y ago
  The US also built at least one nuclear reactor and never used it.
ethbr0 4y ago
Good politicians deliver the end goal people want (e.g. cheap and clean electricity), in the best way scientifically possible, then convince their base their method was the right decision. Bad politicians ask people how they should do a thing, then do that thing. It's been awhile since Germany has had good politicians where energy is concerned.
- halmex 4y ago
  I mean at least they are currently trying to make and implement long overdue policies to fix this mess and speed up required processes.
- moonchrome 4y ago
  That same logic lead to gas pipelines with Russia and Russia blackmailing Germany
  - ethbr0 4y ago
    Fair. The whole point was that gas was supposed to be the "Plan B" bridge to ensure flex and resiliency during the cutover to renewables. Then they did away with a big component of "Plan A" in nuclear after Fukushima, which promoted Russian gas to an essential component of their transition energy mix. At the end of the day, if Germany hadn't stopped building nuclear or decommissioned reactors, Ukraine probably wouldn't have been invaded.
    - moonchrome 4y ago
      I think it's not that far fetched to assume Russia had big influence in shaping the anti nuclear narrative and "building relationships" with key politicians.
      - ethbr0 4y ago
        We'll never know, but it doesn't seem fair to chalk up a country's poor democratic choices to external forces. Russia surely nudged, but if Germany hadn't already been trending in that direction then it wouldn't have stuck.

pantalaimon 4y ago

You can still visit the nuclear power plants that were built but never switched on https://youtu.be/WUVZbBBHrI4 https://youtu.be/WUVZbBBHrI4

Traubenfuchs 4y ago

> in the neighbouring Austria, nuclear power is prohibited Which is funny, because we actually built a pretty much complete nuclear power plant, Zwentendorf. It‘s now a unique museum. A vote of just 50.47 % ruined our radiant future... Also we do have one research reactor left right in the city. I was blessed enough to visit it once.

ekianjo 4y ago
> A vote of just 50.47 % ruined our radiant future... There really should be a rule that important decisions can't pass with a tiny majority
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  > There really should be a rule that important decisions can’t pass with a tiny majority There are at least two major problems with such a rule: (1) On an important question, “yes” and “no” are both important decisions. (2) Who decides what is “important”? You can make a rule that is closer to “you can’t make specific kinds of deviations from the status quo without a supermajority vote”, but that’s…very different from “important decisions”.
TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
Now you are buying nuclear power from Czechia.
HyperSane 4y ago
The US also built at least one nuclear reactor and never used it.

ethbr0 4y ago

Good politicians deliver the end goal people want (e.g. cheap and clean electricity), in the best way scientifically possible, then convince their base their method was the right decision. Bad politicians ask people how they should do a thing, then do that thing. It's been awhile since Germany has had good politicians where energy is concerned.

halmex 4y ago
I mean at least they are currently trying to make and implement long overdue policies to fix this mess and speed up required processes.
moonchrome 4y ago
That same logic lead to gas pipelines with Russia and Russia blackmailing Germany
- ethbr0 4y ago
  Fair. The whole point was that gas was supposed to be the "Plan B" bridge to ensure flex and resiliency during the cutover to renewables. Then they did away with a big component of "Plan A" in nuclear after Fukushima, which promoted Russian gas to an essential component of their transition energy mix. At the end of the day, if Germany hadn't stopped building nuclear or decommissioned reactors, Ukraine probably wouldn't have been invaded.
  - moonchrome 4y ago
    I think it's not that far fetched to assume Russia had big influence in shaping the anti nuclear narrative and "building relationships" with key politicians.
    - ethbr0 4y ago
      We'll never know, but it doesn't seem fair to chalk up a country's poor democratic choices to external forces. Russia surely nudged, but if Germany hadn't already been trending in that direction then it wouldn't have stuck.