Twenty scientists have written a letter to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and urged him not to stop the remaining reactors of the country’s three nuclear power plants. The plants are scheduled to close completely on April 15.
“While the Nature Protection Union of Germany wants to celebrate the shutdown of the last three German nuclear power plants with ‘colorful stops,’ leading climate scientists and leading researchers are calling for just the opposite: the continued operation of the three reactors Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2,” writes the German Die Welt.
In an open letter to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, twenty scientists claim that the three reactors, with their annual production of 32.7 billion kWh, have provided clean electricity to more than ten million households in Germany. They believe that continued operation will still reduce emissions by up to 30 million tons of CO₂ per year compared to coal-fired power.
“For these reasons, we urge you, in the interest of the citizens of Germany, Europe and the world, to reconsider German plans to phase out nuclear power and to continue using the still available nuclear power plants,” the letter says. – Nuclear power in Germany can clearly contribute to mitigating the energy crisis and achieving Germany’s climate goals.”
Among the signatories are Nobel Prize-winning physicist Klaus von Klitzing of the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu, who was U.S. Secretary of Energy under Barack Obama.
An open letter was also signed by numerous leading climate scientists, including James Hansen of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the publication adds.
At the best of times, Germany’s 19 nuclear power plants covered 25 to 30 percent of its electricity needs. At the same time, their shutdown is largely offset by the increased use of coal and gas-fired power plants. Germany has the highest CO₂ emissions in power generation after Poland and the Czech Republic.
The German government wants to nearly double the share of renewable energy by 2030 and offset fluctuations in wind and solar generation by building about 50 new gas-fired power plants in the 500 MW class.
Die Welt noted that under the impression of the energy crisis, many countries, unlike Germany, have extended the service life of their nuclear power plants. And France, Great Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands are planning to build new nuclear power plants.
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