Germany

Germany is a saga of what happens when you combine fear and ignorance. In the 1970's the people of Germany decided that they did not want nuclear power. (fear). At that time they had 17 operating plants producing 16% of their electric power. In 2002 laws were passed to phase out all nuke power plants and by the end of 2022 that was complete. The goal was to replace nuclear power with wind and solar. This decision was made by the government in response to the people but without any studies regarding how this change would take place. Early on in this transition it became apparent that Germany did not have much wind or much sun. (ignorant). What to do with the times when wind and solar were not producing, which was known in the industry, as the base power. That is the minimum amount of power that is needed at all times. It was decided that natural gas was the answer. Then came the war in Ukraine and the gas supplies from Russia were cut off. Some suggested that the nuke plants be restarted. Polls that showed the majority of people who previously had not supported nuclear changed their minds but you cannot just start up a nuke plant. It takes at least a year and so Germany has restarted their old coal plants and they use lignite coal which is the dirtiest of all coal. They are so short of electric power that many of their big industries are moving over seas in a process called de industrialization. These changes were made in response to the people which is the way democracy is supposed to work but someone in charge should have stepped up to educate the people. The same thing is happening in the US and the country needs a leader to come forward and explain to the people that wind and solar cannot replace fossil fuels and the only solution is nuclear power.