Nuclear Power Generation : German's Opt Out

Wonders of wonders, even with the Germans opting out of nuclear power generation, our energy department has approved two new nuclear power plants. The only problem with this is the government being involved with helping with the funding.

Any new power plants of any kind should be paid for by the accruing individuals but over seen by government regulations, especially nuclear. There has to be this separation of funding as the chances of fraud are huge given the amounts of money involved and past history of our government.

Remember how Obama's green energy program went down? Solyndra and 16 other programs that are now failing. Billions of tax dollars lost, stolen or laundered back to the administrations as campaign funding.

Power Generation: Will Germany Win Its Post-Nuclear Bet?
Source: Jon Entine, "Power Generation: Will Germany Win Its Post-Nuclear Bet?" Ethical Corporation, March 6, 2012.

One year after the Fukushima disaster, nuclear energy policy is moving in two opposite directions. While much of the world, led by Germany, is embracing caution and winding down nuclear energy ambitions, the United States, Britain, France and Russia are poised to boost their nuclear estate, says Jon Entine, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently gave the green light to two Southern Company reactors outside Atlanta.

Britain, too, seems amenable to firing up nuclear capacity, although challenges abound -- the Centre for Policy Studies claims that by 2030 one in three households faces fuel poverty and dependence on foreign gas, unless nuclear power plants are built.

A new poll from Ipsos Mori puts U.K. public backing of nuclear energy at its highest in a decade, at more than 50 percent.

Conversely, polls show German anti-nuclear sentiment rocketing. Why the difference?
The diverging paths can be traced to the 1950s when post-war military establishments among the Allied powers drove nuclear energy policy, the legacy of the close ties between the military, private industry and governments in those victorious countries.

In contrast, the collapse of the German and Japanese militaries provided a fortuitous opportunity for those countries to develop an energy policy that was not so closely tied to the military. Without massive government funding of nuclear projects, nuclear never gained as much traction in Germany.

In spring 2011, the German chancellor Angela Merkel, a physicist, abruptly pulled the plug on half the country's nuclear capacity, announcing that remaining reactors would be phased out by 2022. That policy poses pragmatic challenges, in part because of Germany's commitment to European integration, which includes merged power lines.

On most days, Germany avoids electrical blackouts by importing electricity from France and the Czech Republic, which generate much of their power with nuclear reactors. Both countries have rejected German requests for temporary shutdowns of ageing plants on its border.

Most experts are skeptical that renewables can fill the shortfall created by mothballing nuclear plants, which have become a key part of the integrated European energy mix.