‘Russia’s only reliable product is lies’: Germany switches to nuclear power in wake of energy crisis

Faced with an energy crisis caused by Russia, Germany reversed its nuclear exit plans and announced on Monday that it would keep two of its nuclear plants on standby beyond the end of this year.

This follows Russia’s decision to cut off gas supplies to Europe. Following a three-day maintenance period, Russian energy giant Gazprom announced last week that gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would not resume as planned. It blamed the decision on Western sanctions. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, ‘problems with pumping (gas) arose as a result of sanctions imposed against’ Russia.

According to Economy Minister Robert Habeck, two of the three remaining power plants will ‘remain available until mid-April 2023 in case needed’ following a new network stress test. According to AFP, the facilities would be held in reserve in case they were required to ‘make a further contribution to the electricity grid in southern Germany,’ where renewable energy development lags behind that in the north.

According to Habeck, a crisis of this magnitude is still ‘very unlikely’ because Germany has ‘very high supply security’.  The Green Minister also emphasised that Germany was sticking to its plan to phase out nuclear power, with all plants decommissioned by the end of the year, and that it was not changing course. According to Habeck, no new fuel rods will be installed, and the reserve programme will end in mid-April 2023.

The decision postpones a nuclear phase-out planned by the previous chancellor, Angela Merkel, who decided to abandon nuclear power in 2011 in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Habeck stated that Moscow’s refusal to resume gas deliveries via Nord Stream was ‘not surprising’.

‘The only thing that is reliable from Russia is lies,’ he said, adding that ‘we will have to solve our problems without considering (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s erratic decisions, and that is exactly what we will do’. In Germany, where nuclear power has long been a source of contention, extending the lifespan of the plants, which generate 6% of the country’s electricity, has sparked a heated debate.