Nuclear Power in Germany

[Tender Branson]

Even if it doesn't sway undecided voters, I'm worried that turnout among the Green base will be depressingly high.

But as we have seen recently in Hamburg and the German polls, support for the Greens is overestimated by a lot before the election.

The situation now will only lead to a lesser overestimation for the Greens. I still doubt they will get 20% in BW. Anything else would be a big surprise.

[Tender Branson]

Support for exiting nuclear power in Germany has surged from 62% to 71% according to a poll I just saw on TV. We'll see if it is a short-term effect that will subside again over time.

Here`s the complete poll:

"Should the oldest 7 nuclear reactors in Germany be immediately deactivated ?"

"Should all nuclear reactors in Germany be immediately deactivated ?"



"Do you favor Germany's exit from Nuclear Energy ?"



"Do you favor the imposed moratorium on nuclear reactors to check their security ?"



"Are you scared that the nuclear accident in Japan will lead to radioactive contamination of air, water and food in Germany ?"



"Do you think a nuclear accident like in Japan can also happen in Germany ?"

[Tender Branson]

Merkel in an epic flip-flop to save her party before the elections, reacts today:

Germany to shut down pre-1980 nuclear plants

Germany will shut down all seven of its nuclear power plants that began operating before 1980 at least till June, the government said on Tuesday, leaving open whether they will ever start up again after Japan's crisis.

Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the closures, which will leave only 10 nuclear stations still generating, under a nuclear policy moratorium imposed as Japan faced a potential catastrophe at its earthquake-crippled Fukushima complex.

"Power plants that went into operation before the end of 1980 will ... be shut down for the period of the moratorium," Merkel told a news conference, adding that the decision would be carried out by government decree as no agreement with the plants' operators had been reached.

Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said it was not clear if the reactors to be shut down in the three-month moratorium would remain closed or be reconnected to the grid afterwards.

Merkel astonished German politicians on Monday by suspending an unpopular coalition decision taken only last autumn, under which the life of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants would be extended by years.

She drew accusations on Tuesday of transparent trickery for the move, with the opposition and media saying she was trying to avoid a regional election disaster later this month.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/us-germany-nuclear-idUSTRE72E61V20110315

[Tender Branson]

There's a new poll out for Austria, conducted among more than 700 Austrians from March 12-14 about Nuclear Energy. I have never seen a country more opposed to nuclear energy:

Do you follow news reports about Japan ?

96.5% Yes
  3.5% No

Currently Nuclear Power in Europe is booming. Do you personally ssupport this development ?

 7.6% Support
92.1% Oppose

Nuclear Energy, despite its risks, is a useful energy form for humanity, economically, ecologically and energy-politically.

90.8% True
  8.8% Wrong

Do you support the full exit of Nuclear Energy in all of Europe ?

90.9% Yes
  8.7% No

And many more questions i´m too lazy to translate, but almost all are opposed by 80% or more.

http://www.oekonsult.eu/atom2011.pdf

[Tender Branson]

Nuclear Energy, despite its risks, is a useful energy form for humanity, economically, ecologically and energy-politically.

90.8% True
  8.8% Wrong

Woops. That should be the other way round ...

[Tender Branson]

Obviously this thread mostly exists because a dispute on the subject was turning an elections thread into something different... but I'm genuinely curious about something (and have been for a while). While is Nuclear Power so controversial in Germany and Austria, even by the standards of other countries? It isn't without controversy in Britain, but only a minority of the population care greatly either way, while in Germany and Austria it seems to be an issue on which everyone has a genuine opinion.

Because large swaths of Austria were contaminated after Chernobyl:



Or maybe we are just greener-thinking than other countries.

[Tender Branson]

These are the consequences of nuclear power

     I could just as easily post pictures of mangled corpses with the caption: "These are the consequences of cars". That's an appeal to emotion, not logic.

Cars don't make large swaths of land uninhabitable though. Cars also do not cripple whole generations with having birth defects like nuclear power does.

[Tender Branson]

Geiger counters sell out amid atomic angst

The nuclear crisis in Japan has apparently sparked German angst about radiation in faraway Europe. Geiger counters are sold out across Germany, a media report said Wednesday.

“Germany is inclined to fear, especially nuclear fears,” daily Financial Times Deutschland wrote.

The phone line at the Society for Radiation Protection (GS) has been busy since last week’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami destabilized the Fukushima nuclear plant some 250 kilometres from Tokyo, the paper said.

“Most want to know how what’s happening Japan will affect Germany,” GS spokesman Florian Emrich said.

And though experts at the GS have advised callers against taking iodine pills or buying Geiger counters, the particle detectors that measure radiation have quickly disappeared from store shelves.

“I can’t deliver, not a single item,” a spokeswoman for electronics manufacturer Conrad told the paper, adding that advance orders were already in the hundreds.

The company is working “under high pressure” to provide the devices, which cost between €300 and €500.

Georg Dieter Mirow, owner of Mannheim-based company Gamma Scout, a producer of Geiger counters for Conrad and other vendors, described an “assault-like order situation,” saying demand was some 20 times higher than usual.

Another Geiger counter manufacturer, Graetz Strahlungsmeßtechnik in Altena, confirmed the situation.

“Many with family in Japan want to bring a device with them,” sales representative Martina Pavlidis told the paper, adding that for a number of other buyers, the counters served as “psychological help.”

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20110316-33753.html



Why only buying the Geiger-counter, when you don't buy this fancy stuff as well ?