Dhe decision by Olaf Scholz (SPD) to continue operation of all three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany on the basis of his policy competence as Chancellor of the Federal Republic mainly affects the state of Lower Saxony. Because there is the Emsland nuclear power plant, the only nuclear power plant that was supposed to go offline on December 31, 2022 and, unlike the two southern German nuclear power plants, should not continue to run in stretched operation. That was the law. That’s what Federal Environment Minister Robert Habeck had planned. That was also the decision of the party conference of the Federal Greens at the weekend.
And that’s what the current red-black state government in Lower Saxony wanted, with the SPD taking the lead on this issue. The decision by the Federal Chancellor on Monday evening that the Emsland nuclear power plant should also go into operation was met with displeasure from the state government in Hanover. In a hasty statement on Monday evening it was said that the continued operation of the Emsland nuclear power plant was “not necessary”. The responsible Environment Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) explained that there was neither a need for additional electricity in northern Germany nor did the fuel rods in Emsland have relevant reserves. The nuclear power plant in Emsland will therefore make “no real contribution”. After all, the decision of his party friend in the Chancellery marks the end of an “unspeakable debate,” said Lies. Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) was a little more reserved and announced that the state of Lower Saxony would now create the necessary conditions for continued operation and praised the fact that at least “no new fuel rods were bought”.
One of the most important issues in the state election campaign
The SPD in Lower Saxony has been very critical of nuclear power for many years and also had in mind the skeptical to negative attitude of large parts of the Lower Saxony population for a long time. However, there are indications that the SPD had long expected that the current nuclear power plant debate had not yet come to an end. In the weeks leading up to the Lower Saxony state elections, SPD lead candidate Weil always stressed that he saw nuclear power as very “pragmatic”. With that, Weil was presumably already preparing for the current development, while his Environment Minister Olaf Lies continued to express himself audibly more critically. Because the SPD was not allowed to offend its desired Green coalition partner too much.
In the state election campaign, nuclear power was one of the most important issues. The FDP and CDU demanded not only extended operation of all three nuclear power plants, but also the ordering of new fuel rods. The SPD countered with restraint, the Greens with full force. Because the continued operation of the Emsland nuclear power plant marked a red line for the Greens state association in Lower Saxony, which is extremely critical of nuclear power. The state association exerted massive pressure within the party on Federal Environment Minister Habeck to ensure that the Lower Saxony nuclear power plant would not remain connected to the grid at the end of the year. At first it was successful. Just a few days ago, the green co-lead candidate Christian Meyer triumphantly repeated several times on Twitter: “ByeByeAtomkraft,” Meyer wrote. Nuclear power is “definitely history” and the Emsland nuclear power plant will go “off the grid on December 31, 2022.” Other Green politicians from Lower Saxony also repeated their opinion at the weekend that nuclear power from Emsland “blocks the grids” and is “economic nonsense ” be.