Germany’s best-known climate activist Luisa Neubauer considers a nuclear power plant runtime extension limited to a few months to be acceptable. “What is currently being discussed specifically is stretching operation – i.e. continued operation of the remaining nuclear power plants for a few months, but without buying new fuel rods. That would be temporary and not a fundamental step,” she told the Tagesspiegel (Monday). Neubauer sees no problem in this. However, she doubted the usefulness of such a measure. Neubauer cited a study according to which gas consumption would drop by just one percent if the three reactors continued to operate. “You could also capture that with energy-saving measures,” said Neubauer.
The climate activist criticized that some political forces now want a fundamental debate on energy supply and the purchase of new fuel elements. “They are no longer concerned with a transition, but with preventing a real energy transition away from coal, gas, oil and nuclear power,” said Neubauer. She did not accept the argument that nuclear power could protect the climate. “We have to ask ourselves: Why do we want climate protection? To mitigate disaster risks. To plead for nuclear power now for a civil protection reason – climate protection – knowing full well that nuclear power itself entails a great risk for a different type of catastrophe – that doesn’t work,” explained Neubauer. But the “beautiful” thing is that there is not just a choice between “two high-risk technologies”. Renewable energies hardly entail any risks.
In an interview with the Tagesspiegel, Luisa Neubauer also accused the federal government of neglecting its climate protection promises in times of war. “The bottom line is that the federal government is deciding to treat the climate crisis in view of the war as if the climate were somehow waiting for us,” said Neubauer. The climate activist criticized that energy gaps were not only being temporarily filled. “The energy market is currently being enriched with fossil projects that far exceed what we had before the war. Out of the energy crisis, decisions are made for decades. That’s crazy.”
As an example, Neubauer cited the liquid gas that Chancellor Olaf Scholz would like to import from Senegal. According to Neubauer, this would arrive at the LNG terminals in Germany as planned in 2030. “It’s not about a transition. That’s what we’re committed to,” she said. The capacity of the planned LNG terminals also far exceeds the amount that Germany temporarily needs. “If we don’t intervene massively now, we will experience a new fossil gold rush in Germany,” warned Neubauer.