No they bet on cheap russian power due to a combination of compromised politicians and the lure of extra cheap and low friction power.
Make no mistake, people didn’t like nuclear in Germany for historic reasons fusing cold war armageddon fears, Chernobyl Trauma and anti-americanism. The majority did not like it. Every nuclear fuel transport was a fight. Every power plant was fought by a combination of NIMBY and groundswell opposition. We are tightly settled and no place could be found to dispose of nuclear fuel that didn’t have the entire local population rise up.
They voted for it to be abandoned. And then the russians came along offering basically out of sight, NIMBY proof power cheap, an unreasonable package for politicians.
(Germany’s are the greatest NIMBY nation in the world. We fight power lines (it makes children sick), wind power (it kills birds), prisons (they create crime), internet lines (they destroy nature), wifi (makes children sick). We, especially our intellectuals, are a bunch of crazy ass people with centuries deep insane obsession about homeopathy, Kneipp. Ideological blinders so large they blot out the sun about misunderstood peaceful russians.
The last 15 years of German prosperity was not, as people would love to delude themselves, engineering ingenuity- it as powered by cheap Russian power, out of sight, and Chinese Manufacturing. The entire economy got addicted to it and the party stopped last year and the cost of it has become apparent.
The Nuclear decision has to be seen in that context, a ruinously stupid short term focused energy policy influenced by well placed Russian corruption and passed by the largest parties in the country because their constituents, large industries, donors and yes, unions, wanted it. It was a devils bargain but it allowed them to pretend progress.
Now the green party, who yes always wanted this but never ever had the power to force any of it, is a convenient scapegoats for ‘you made the population do it’, but that entirely flies in the face of how decisions are made and laws are passed in Germany.
Make no mistake, people didn’t like nuclear in Germany for historic reasons fusing cold war armageddon fears, Chernobyl Trauma and anti-americanism. The majority did not like it. Every nuclear fuel transport was a fight. Every power plant was fought by a combination of NIMBY and groundswell opposition. We are tightly settled and no place could be found to dispose of nuclear fuel that didn’t have the entire local population rise up.
They voted for it to be abandoned. And then the russians came along offering basically out of sight, NIMBY proof power cheap, an unreasonable package for politicians.
(Germany’s are the greatest NIMBY nation in the world. We fight power lines (it makes children sick), wind power (it kills birds), prisons (they create crime), internet lines (they destroy nature), wifi (makes children sick). We, especially our intellectuals, are a bunch of crazy ass people with centuries deep insane obsession about homeopathy, Kneipp. Ideological blinders so large they blot out the sun about misunderstood peaceful russians.
The last 15 years of German prosperity was not, as people would love to delude themselves, engineering ingenuity- it as powered by cheap Russian power, out of sight, and Chinese Manufacturing. The entire economy got addicted to it and the party stopped last year and the cost of it has become apparent.
The Nuclear decision has to be seen in that context, a ruinously stupid short term focused energy policy influenced by well placed Russian corruption and passed by the largest parties in the country because their constituents, large industries, donors and yes, unions, wanted it. It was a devils bargain but it allowed them to pretend progress.
Now the green party, who yes always wanted this but never ever had the power to force any of it, is a convenient scapegoats for ‘you made the population do it’, but that entirely flies in the face of how decisions are made and laws are passed in Germany.