In March 2011, the horrific accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan led Chancellor Angela Merkel to decide to abolish nuclear power in Germany. A decision that has since been implemented, although it has occasionally been the target of criticism, especially during the energy crisis, when the flow of cheap natural gas from Russia stopped.

How times change

All indications are that the former chancellor’s party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is now planning to bring the issue of nuclear power back into its campaign platform as essential to Germany’s energy mix.

In the relevant text released at a recent party conference entitled “New energy agenda for Germany” it typically states: “We intend to proceed with a technical assessment as quickly as possible as to whether, given the respective stage of decommissioning, it is still possible to restart the operation of recently closed nuclear plants with reasonable technical and financial effort.”

At the moment, there is no talk of building new production units, but of the possibility of reopening some that have been closed. The Christian Democrats had criticized the Solz government’s decision in 2023 to “pull the switch” on the last three factories in the country, at a time when society and industry were feeling the effects of the energy crisis, and despite the chancellor having previously approved an extension of a few months over the original plan. These factories are in the process of being dismantled and opinions are divided on the potential cost of re-opening them.

Who will tell the Greens?

However, this approach is very likely to create problems for the Christian Democrats in an eventual search for post-election partners. For example, the Greens, who imagine themselves as a potential ally, especially if the Liberals do not participate in the next Parliament, would have a huge problem with their electoral “clientele” if they consented to a new “reversal from the reversal” of Merkel.

The issue seems to be on the agenda of the pre-election period, since the country is in need of cheap energy and the recent decisions of the EU to include nuclear energy in the list of “clean”, after the demand of countries such as France, show what it is and the climate in Europe. This is also shown by the attitude of the chancellor candidate of the Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Mertz, who used to say that the matter was closed, but recently he has clearly changed his rhetoric.

The gullible consumers

But times are changing and political parties are looking for solutions to an economy that is essentially in a prolonged recession due to rising energy costs. Germany had also been criticized by its “allies” as naïve for allowing itself to become dependent on cheap Russian fossil fuels. Can one expect a change of course, in the spirit of a “Zeitenwende”, similar to that of the current outgoing government on military spending in 2022 from a new government with a core body of Christendom?

Among the other proposals under discussion in the relevant CDU position text is the question of “research and development of fourth and fifth generation nuclear power plants. They must be more efficient and safer than their predecessors. The so-called “small modular reactors”, which are currently not yet operational, should also be studied.

Ambitious plans in the EU

Reference is also made to the EU’s ambitious plans in the field of so-called nuclear fusion. “The world’s first grid-connected fusion reactor should be in Germany,” is the grandiose goal. In order to accelerate its development, the federal government should therefore subsidize two such fusion reactors with competing technologies.” All of this seems a bit far-fetched at the moment. With winter approaching and the pre-election period virtually open, what citizens will expect to hear from the parties immediately is how they can count on cheap, clean and reliable energy for their daily lives.