Nuclear Gets New Lease on Life in Germany

Of course Obama is trying to shut down nuclear as a political favor to his base, where as the Europeans finally are getting wise:

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives want to prolong the life of Germany’s nuclear reactors by overturning a law aimed at phasing out atomic energy by the 2020s, according to a party working document.

In a country in which the public is deeply opposed to nuclear power but obsessed with climate protection, Mrs. Merkel will have to persuade even her supporters that prolonging the life of the 17 power plants is necessary until there are sufficient alternative sources of clean energy to replace the plants once they are closed.

Nuclear power accounts for 12 percent of Germany’s needs, while solar and wind energy make up only 1 percent. The biggest suppliers are oil (36 percent), coal (24 percent) and natural gas (23 percent).The proposals by the conservatives, still to be finalized, are contained in a working document presented to their new coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats.

The document states that “atomic energy will be required as a bridge technology until affordable, climate-friendly energy sources are reliably available in sufficient quantities.”“The limit on reactor lifetimes to 32 years is thus rescinded,” it added.

It 2002, the Social Democrat and Green government passed a law that stipulated that nuclear power stations would be progressively shut as they age, with a complete shut-down planned by 2022. At the time, the accord won big support from the public. According to a recent survey carried out by Emnid, over 60 percent of Germans want the plants phased out.

Elections have consequences and its nice to see left wing nonsense overturned, hopefully these things will be happening in the United States sooner rather then later. By the way, because you wanted to know: