Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

THE ENDEUMPSPD of 2021 brought mixed news for Germany’s anti-nuclear crowd. On December 6th the gaggle of activists who had gathered outside the Brokdorf nuclear plant, in northern Germany, every month for the 36 years it had operated swapped their usual thermoses for champagne. For on December 31st Brokdorf, the construction of which had inspired some of the roughest protests in German history, was one of three nuclear plants switched off for good. The remaining three will be closed down by the end of this year, concluding a nuclear exit two decades in the making.Then came the downer. Just before midnight on December 31st, after months of dithering, the European Commission circulated a draft energy “taxonomy” that labelled natural gas and nuclear fission as sustainable, with conditions. The taxonomy, which must be finalised and then approved by the ’s 27 governments and the European Parliament, is designed to steer investment to . But if the aim was to please everyone by finding room for all but the dirtiest fuels, it failed in Germany. Robert Habeck, the vice-chancellor and co-leader of the Green party, called the draft “greenwashing”, citing concerns about safety and nuclear waste. An from the Social Democratic Party (), which leads the governing coalition, compared nuclear supporters (ludicrously) to anti-vaxxers.