Item — HN Reader

So... Germany decided, back in 2011, to completely shut down their nuclear power plants in 2021 & 2022. Now - after 10 years of the plant operators carefully planning for that (longer-term maintenance not done, suppliers for parts have discontinued production, key personnel retiring with no trained replacements, etc., etc.) - Germany suddenly wants to say "no, wait, keep 'em running!"

I thought Germany was the land of competent engineers and managers?

EDIT: Critics - yes, you're 90+% correct on facts, current German leaders are stuck playing the cards currently on the table, and I understand that Morton Thiokol engineers did not blow up the Challenger. But "suddenly wants to" != "decided". And my point was to mock Germany's political leadership for proving disastrously bad at what is a very traditional & stereotypical German strength.

Perhaps if German politicians were not allowed to take office without earning at least X% of the votes of practicing engineers. And demonstrating that they can pour beers without injuring themselves...

6 comments

> I thought Germany was the land of competent engineers and managers?

They do not make the decisions, the politicians and the authorities do.

The engineers/managers are the one that are likely screaming to them saying nuclear energy is safer, more productive and cost effective vs. buying Russian gas via Nordstorm pipelines.

The Ukraine situation has just made the politicians wake up and reconsidering the energy supply in the country. Definitely not a good idea to have a big chunk of the country dependent on another country that is hostile.

At this point, it is best to keep nuclear plants running as a base energy supply which switching to renewables at faster pace to replace it.

No, Germany hasn't decided to keep them running. They are evaluating the implications if they wanted to keep them running. And as you said, it is unlikely, that this is a good idea because their lifetime was planned to end. As the article says, the most likely outcome is: we shut them down and rather concentrate all efforts to hasten the transition to renewables.

Germany decided this in the late 90s when Gerhard Schröder was in office, when Merkel came to power she tried to delay the closure but she was forced to revise that when Fukushima happened.

Doesn’t Gerhard Schröder have ties to the Russian gas industry?

He didn't back then, and he wasn't the driving force behind the decision either, the Greens were. Stop trying to spin this into some sort of conspiracy.

It was an honest question. I lived/studied in Germany back when he was chancellor, but I won’t pretend to know the ins and outs of German politics.

So a big part of the SPD is "pro Russia"

They even asked to remove sanctions: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/how-german-climate-f...

The anti-nuclear movement so clearly benefits Russian energy exports it's laughable. The definition of "useful idiot".

Sure, in the years after Chernobyl it is expected there would be a genuine fear. But now we understand what went wrong and how to design safe reactors it is not a logical position.

Yes, infamously so.

Yes, he was heavily involved in the Nordstream pipelines and was/is a friend of Putin.

>I thought Germany was the land of competent engineers and managers?

I've heard that this is a myth; rather, Germans are very good at following rules.

Brandenburg Airport is evidence that German engineering/management is overrated.

Erm, have you noticed that the situation has changed?

Engineers? Some, certainly. Managers? Maybe. Probably not. But politicians? Hardly.