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Germany is increasingly indicating openness to nuclear energy, marking a complete pivot from their historic stance on the controversial energy source. Germany’s shift in attitude toward nuclear energy comes as part of a larger global movement back toward nuclear power as a viable part of a secure and low-carbon energy landscape.
Last month, German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche opted to join a meeting with pro-nuclear European Union members instead of attending a gathering of states dedicated to renewables, marking a major fracturing of the German government’s stance on the future of European energy. While Reiche is rubbing elbows with nuclear energy proponents, the nation’s Environment Minister Carsten Schneider remains staunchly opposed to changing Germany’s staunchly anti-nuclear stance.
“We have decided to phase out nuclear power. This has also been accepted by society,” Schneider was recently quoted by Deutsche Welle (DW). “There are no further commitments [to the nuclear industry], nor will there be any,” he went on to say. Germany took its last three nuclear power plants offline in 2023.
DW reports that the disaccord over nuclear power between Germany’s Energy and Economy Ministers has already been apparent for some time now. Back in May, Reiche said in Brussels (where the European Union is headquartered) that she was “open to all technologies” as a part of Germany’s energy policy, and agreed to make peace with French officials by dropping anti-nuclear rhetoric from European Union legislation. This marks a major departure from Germany’s traditional stance.
Germany’s deep-held opposition to nuclear power is the product of historical politicking rather than a reckoning with current energy realities, which have rapidly shifted in the long wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine. A 2024 report from The Conversation explains that Germany’s complete phase-out of nuclear energy production “can only be understood in the context of post-war socio-political developments in Germany, where anti-nuclearism predated the public climate discourse.” According to that report, vehement anti-nuclear discourse of the time can be credited to “a distrust of technocracy; ecological, environmental and safety fears; suspicions that nuclear energy could engender nuclear proliferation; and general opposition to concentrated power (especially after its extreme consolidation under the Nazi dictatorship).”
But now, it would appear that Germany can’t afford to maintain its anti-nuclear ideology. The German economy and energy sector was pummeled by energy sanctions on Russia, as the country was reliant on the Kremlin for a whopping 50% of its natural gas supplies when Russia first invaded Ukraine. While Germany has not made any significant moves to shift its own domestic nuclear energy policy, the fact that leadership is not unilaterally antagonistic toward the technology is a big deal in national and European politics.
The shift comes as part of a broader sea change in favor of nuclear energy in Europe. In just the past few months alone, the governments of Italy and Denmark initiated motions to overturn their respective 40-years ban on nuclear power production, and Spain signalled openness to extending the lives of its nuclear plants previously slated for phaseout.
This re-embrace of nuclear energy is not limited to Europe. Globally, nuclear energy is gaining ground as one of the strongest solutions for successfully balancing energy security needs with climate goals. Nuclear energy is a proven technology with zero carbon emissions, and can be built up practically anywhere, especially with emerging small modular reactor models.
Just last month, the World Bank overturned its own ban on funding nuclear energy projects, a move that will spread the reach of nuclear energy in the developing world and likely influence other development banks to follow suit. Lauren Hughes, deputy director of the Nuclear Energy Policy Initiative, recently told the Atlantic Council that taken together, these major policy decisions “indicate that nuclear is coming back into favor and being recognized for its ability to provide reliable baseload power.”
