There's hope to reconsider nuclear energy: The Economist: Germany reconsiders nuclear power

Germany reconsiders nuclear power


Aug 2nd 2007 From The Economist print edition


UNTIL recently, nuclear power seemed to be making its way back into public favour in Germany. A warm winter, and dire warnings by scientists about climate change, convinced many that carbon emissions might be a bigger danger than nuclear accidents or radioactive waste. Opinion polls this spring showed that fewer than half of Germans favoured continuing the policy, adopted in 2000, of phasing out all nuclear plants by 2021.
About a quarter of Germany's electricity still comes from nuclear reactors, and the country's four big power companies had dared to hope for a reprieve for nuclear power—at least to extend the life of existing reactors, if not permission to build new ones. But that changed at the end of June, when two separate accidents at nuclear plants operated by Vattenfall, a Swedish company, in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, set back the pro-nuclear lobby once again.