No Nukes for Germany
German’s chancellor Angela Merkel announced last week that Germany would phase out all nuclear power in their country by 2022. Eight nuclear power plants were taken off-line shortly after the Fukashima incident in Japan and reportedly will not be re-started. This leaves 11 plants to be phased out by 2022. In the short term, some of the power shift will go to fossil fuel power plants (gas and coal) while they push for much more robust solar and wind production. Can Germany reach this goal? Should they? Can we do the same?
A country the size of Germany is much better suited to manage such a task than a country as large and diverse as the U.S. Their population centers are much more compact making distribution of power much easier than the geographic constraints we face. Even for a country their size, this is still a very ambitious goal.
Should they leave nuclear power? That is another good question. Germany is a technological powerhouse and world leader. Why aren’t they instead leading on the advancement of next generation technology like they’ve done in the past in many technical areas? Is this simply a “knee-jerk reaction” to the situation in Japan or a well thought out national energy policy. Time will tell.
