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The historical arguments against nuclear power
still hold, some have gotten even stronger.
First, inadequate waste disposal.
Second, the risks
although the deciding factor is not the incidence rate
but the potential extent of the damage.
Every risk analysis has 2 components:
The likelihood of an incident
which is certainly lower than an elevator being stuck.
The second component consists of the possible consequences of an accident.
This weighs much more heavily.
The third point is military abuse.
And the fourth
which has intensified over the last few years
is abuse by terrorists.
Acts of terrorism may range
from nuclear attacks
down through to terrorists crashing planes into nuclear plants.
Nuclear energy is not what it should be.
It does much harm.
Ultimately it's always the person
who actually has to press the button.
I think it´s absolutely safe.
I’ve even looked at one with my school. It's ok.
Reasons for nuclear energy?
I can’t give you any.
In Germany, the construction of nuclear power plants
has been highly subsidized.
After about 15, maybe 18 years at the longest
a nuclear power plant is written off financially.
After that, one can earn truckloads of money with a nuclear power plant.
In that the actual interest is not in new development
but in using old facilities as long as possible.
Reasons?
Because it’s the cheapest, I would think.
Indeed, there are studies calculating that.
They say that it’s about one million Euros a day
that an operator of a nuclear power plant earns.
Also, providers can sell electricity for a lot right now
because the market price for electricity is high.
Yet the consumer will be billed.
From a provider's point of view
a nuclear plant is very cost-effective.
Many consumers don’t care
whether they use renewable or nuclear energy.
A consumer doesn’t notice what comes out of the socket.
I think it’s good because it’s cheap.
Yeah, it’s the cheapest.
At the moment.
Nuclear Power Plant Brunsbuettel, Germany
Looking at the next 15 years
renewable energies will definitely get cheaper
fossil fuels will get more expensive.
In 2020 at the latest
renewable energies will be cheaper.
"Alternative energy” is a buzzword
that no longer applies.
The energy industry basically
helped itself to all the resources
to coal, oil, and gas.
That must be scaled back
as these resources are disappearing.
There are three possibilities:
The first, by far the most interesting
but also the least popular
is to consume less energy.
It’s also a technical problem.
It’s not just about changing your habits
but also about an enormous potential.
Every kilowatt hour that I do not consume
I do not need to fill it with fossil fuels
with nuclear, or wind electricity either.
The second are renewable technologies
which are now starting to boom.
In Germany, we have about half as much electricity
from renewable energies as we do from nuclear power.
The third would be nuclear power
whose importance worldwide
is considerably smaller than renewable energies.
The buzzword “alternative energies” is misleading
because it advertizes: “It´s something that may perhaps work.”
No, it’s coming on a big scale.
We already had an intense debate at the end of the 80’s
e.g. in the Investigative Committee of the German Parliament.
At the time the Committee was mostly made up
of advocates for nuclear power
such as Prof. Michaelis who wrote the “Handbook for Nuclear Energy”.
He was one of the main driving forces for nuclear energy.
We examined the question
“Can nuclear power solve the climate problem?”
The result of the Committee - of mostly advocates -
was unanimous: “Nuclear energy cannot solve it.”
I personally found this campaign rather kitschy.
We have too much of what's happened in the past 20 years in our minds
so a couple of happy-looking cows in front of a nuclear plant
won't downplay the situation.
All the gentlemen who now act
as though climate protection were something new
were already involved in the debates in the 90’s.
We´ve already dealt with the climate problems
in the phaseout negotiations.
The problem is that politics are now in the hands of these corporations.
Nuclear Power for Climate Protection Is Like Missiles for Peace
Especially in democracies
- and thank God we have one -
politicians react to the topics that win them elections.
So when people resist nuclear power
because a nuclear plant is in their backyard
then politicians begin to adapt to that point of view.
That was the case in Germany.
The result is the nuclear phaseout decided by the Red-Green coalition.
Yet it is not clear whether Germany will really give up nuclear power.
But when people here in this country
do not feel the harm
done to the environment in the Australian Outback
then we have no reaction in the political sphere.
That's the way the world goes round.
Subtitles by: Stephanie Auth