Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Towards Nuclear Free World: Merkel spins round to lead Germany's anti-nuclear movement!

Have you read my Novella, “Mayhem of the Miserables!” available @ http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52075

Sabine Rennefanz
Sabine Rennefanz / guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 June 2011 11.04 BST.

Activists Ethics Commission for Secure Energy Supply in Berlin
Anti-nuclear activists wearing masks of the German chancellor Angela Merkel and other politicians, demonstrate in Berlin. Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/Reuters.

Yes, this lady is for turning! For spinning, indeed. Last autumn, Angela Merkel's mistake-prone coalition government decided that Germany's nuclear power stations should continue to operate until 2035, which overrode a decision to quit nuclear energy by 2022 made by the government of Social Democrats and Greens in 2001. Seven months, a nuclear catastrophe in Japan and several regional losses by Merkel's Christian Democrats later, she's changed her mind again. On Monday night a historic decision was made, the government declared: Germany will be the first industrial country in the world that renounces nuclear power for good.
All power plants will by switched off by 2022. Sounds familiar? Germany is not only quitting nuclear power, but it's quitting for the second time. This shows you how much we Germans fear radiation. It's a fear that has become deeply embedded in the psyche of the country. Since Fukushima, one can see on walls, doors, backpacks, bikes and everywhere else the logo of the anti-nuclear movement from the 1970s. A smiling sun saying "Atomkraft? Nein danke" has returned. People have put up the logo on their Facebook profiles, thousands have marched on the streets and the Greens, who grew out of the original anti-nuclear movement, have become stronger than ever. They could even provide the next chancellor. Suddenly everybody is against nuclear power, and Merkel is leading the movement. She's no Iron Lady, but rather a chameleon. No wonder the Greens are angry she stole their clothes.
The decision to quit nuclear energy is politically correct, but is it economically sustainable and environmentally brave? Nobody is celebrating yet, because many questions remain.
After witnessing the Chernobyl and Fukushima - in both cases known facts are far less than the suppressed ones - if we haven't woken up to the perils of pursuing this socalled clean energy, the future generations would never forgive us.
Yes, there are some Environmentalist who prefer Nuclear Power over the emission-ridden conventional ones.
I, personally, feel that we should find alternative to both Nuclear and Conventional power and in the meanwhile stop wasting energy, which is what we all are doing - both in the Developed and the Emerging Economies, while still to be developed economies are in the dark.
As this article writer raises the question whether Germany would face black-outs, my answer is if they undertake Energy Conservation Measures, they will not face any such black-outs, for another 30 years.
And finally, the view of the 'Wall Street Journal' that Merkel's initiative would put German economy into an annual revenue loss of US$ 1.44/- Billion is ridiculous.  Let's put it this way, this amount is the insurance against future disasters and Germany can very well afford that kind of premium.
Full Article at,



No comments:

Post a Comment