“Gear Euratom towards renewables at last“

Europe’s nuclear power organisation Euratom needs to be drastically reformed and become more democratic and transparent, Sylvia Kotting-Uhl, nuclear energy expert of the German Green Party’s parliamentary group, writes in a guest commentary for Frankfurter Rundschau. “The idea of safe and clean nuclear energy failed long ago,” Kotting-Uhl writes, adding that in spite of Germany’s nuclear exit, many old nuclear reactors were still in service in other counrties along its borders. “Neighbouring countries need to have a say when it comes to security requirements for reactors close to the border,” she writes. Moreover, Germany still funds nuclear energy with “immense sums” via its Euratom contributions, especially the experimental nuclear fusion reactor ITER in France, Kotting-Uhl argues. “A technology that would mean Germany’s re-entry to nuclear power if it were implemented,” she says.

Read the commentary in German here.

Also see the CLEW dossier The challenges of Germany’s nuclear phase-out.