A return to nuclear power for Germany would be “logical,” Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told dpa in an interview.
“I think it makes sense. It’s a rational position,” Grossi said, noting that Germany is the only country in the world to have completely phased out nuclear power.
Policymakers in Berlin might wonder why others have not done so, he said during an interview at the UN climate conference in Baku on Wednesday.
“You may be wondering: Why does the rest of the world see things differently?” Grossi said. He added: “I respect German politics, and you are going through a very complex phase, so we will see.”
The IAEA chief noted that all other countries that had announced similar intentions have since “backtracked. Some visible, some less visible.”
He said he was “not surprised” that German parties are now calling for a return to nuclear energy.
Grossi pointed out that nuclear power plants emit virtually no climate-damaging greenhouse gases. It would therefore be “a very bad idea” for the planet to abolish nuclear energy, he said.
“This is why countries that have nuclear energy want more nuclear energy,” he said. “Many countries that didn’t have nuclear energy want nuclear energy.”
Merkel initiated the nuclear phase-out
Just last week, the conservative CDU-CSU opposition in the Bundestag parliament described the closure of the last nuclear power plants in April 2023 during the energy crisis as an ideologically motivated misstep by the center-left coalition. Now a reassessment is needed to determine whether restarting operations is still possible “under acceptable technical and financial conditions,” the report said.
Angela Merkel, the former chancellor of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, was the one who initiated the nuclear phase-out after the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
Grossi emphasized that he did not personally want to label Germany’s nuclear phase-out as a mistake. “I do not contest the democratically taken decisions of our member states,” he told dpa.
