Merkel's nuclear shutdown lands in court

[pscot]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,754453,00.html

The German energy giant RWE on Friday became the first to legally challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to temporarily shut down the country's oldest nuclear reactors. The company filed a lawsuit in an administrative court in the German city of Kassel against the mandated shutdown of its Biblis A reactor.


The move was not entirely unexpected. Earlier in the week, SPIEGEL revealed that RWE was considering the move. The company said that stock ownership laws left them little option but to file for damages. Still, the lawsuit could prove to be a significant hurdle for Merkel's rapidly changing nuclear energy policy.

In mid-March, her government announced a snap three month shutdown of the country's seven oldest nuclear plants, pending a safety review, in response to the nuclear disaster unfolding in Fukushima, Japan. Merkel also temporarily suspended a law which allowed the extension of reactor lifespans -- a policy which was one of her signature issues last autumn.

At the time of her nuclear about-face two weeks ago, it was unclear what Merkel's government had in store for the future of nuclear power in Germany. But last weekend, her Christian Democrats (CDU) suffered embarrassing defeats in two important state elections. Her coalition partners from the business-friendly Free Democrats -- a party which had been a major proponent of nuclear energy -- also experienced significant losses. The anti-nuclear Greens made important gains.

[BeFree]

1. Good

Let justice decide just how anti-human the nuke industry is.

Those who run these plants would kill all of us off except that then who would buy their expensive electricity? They are in a quandary. If they succeed they lose, if the people die they lose. They run a lose/lose operation. Fuck 'em. Shut them down.

[pscot]

2. As compared to coal?

Because that's the alternative.

[BeFree]

4. Where are you?

In the dark ages?

Solar and wind are the future.

Besides, name on coal plant that has displaced millions of people. I can name 2 nukes.
And nukes are just getting warmed up. Fuck the nukes.

[GliderGuider]

6. Solar and wind are the future, all right.

Unfortunately, coal is the present...

ETA:
Fuck the nukes.
Fuck the coal.
Fuck the natural gas.
Fuck the oil too.

I'd rather be sitting out in the sun, feeling the wind in my hair.

[Democracyinkind]

5. That's what Deutschland AG says. It's not necessarily true.

I'm a bit skeptical about the claim - since it is clearly false.

But then again, you have a point: Given that there won't be any massive paradigm-shifts, unexpected technological revolutions, or drastic reorganizations of how societies operate coal will be the only alternative. And I don't see any of those 3 things happening soon; then again, many people in history have said that and were proven wrong.

[Democracyinkind]

3. As far as I understand

RWE is not challenging the "moratorium" (is that an expression used in english too, I forgot...??) per se but they are rather arguing that - absent of a change in the law (Atomgesetz)- that they are entitled to financial compensation for the period of the shut-down. With the law as it is, RWE actually has some merit. Then again, it won't be long and Merkels coalition will be history and the coming red-red-green coalition will definitely revise the Atomgesetz along the lines of what Schroeder did in 2002. Then RWE's claims will be moot, but then there will still be the question of compensation for the period leading up to that point. This could have been evaded if Merkels silly government hadn't tinkered with the Atomgesetz in the first place. The German nuclear industry is a scam that can only operate as long as any and all long-term costs are externalized... If RWE had to pay the full costs of dismantling its plants - let alone correctly disposing of all materials - they would never have built one in the first place.

Ah... Deutschland AG ... Where dreams of Mitteleuropa still rely on atomic power (pun intended for history buffs).