One of the most persuasive reasons why our society has become as successful as it arguably is because of the human race’s persistence. Throughout the history of human development we have naturally faced challenges and difficulties. However it is a trait of human beings that we look to find a way round these challenges and discover ways to overcome them. This is epitomised by our commitment to technology and innovation. When we fall down in life, it is a natural human instinct to pick yourself up and get back on with the task in hand, with an added incentive to find new ways to succeed.
It therefore seems to beggar belief that this week Germany decided to scrap all of its nuclear power plants by 2022. The move comes in light of the Fukushima crisis and follows months of demonstrations by German anti-nuclear campaigners highlighting the potential dangers of nuclear plants.
This measure, which could possibly see other states review their nuclear programmes can only be seen as a significant step back for human development and energy security and independence. It seems to defy human progress that when something goes wrong, in this case the Fukushima crisis, there are people prepared to react in fear rather than thinking rationally about how the situation can be resolved sensibly. The Fukushima crisis was a disaster, but it was a disaster because of a whole host of very specific issues. It was not a symptom of a nuclear energy industry that was problematic in itself. It was the consequence of unwise decisions that saw a nuclear power station being built along tectonic plate fault lines in an area that has a long history of earthquakes and tsunamis.
The disaster that Japan suffered is statistically only likely to happen once every 300 years. Incidents like this can be prevented fairly easily. Most simply, not building a nuclear power plant on a fault line. But Germany does not have a history of tectonic activity. Even if it did, we should see this disaster as an excuse to innovate and experiment how we can create stronger defences. It was the Tsunami and not the earthquake that caused the damage. Surely we should now be looking into how we can create technologies to prevent this happening again, not resort to the easy option of just quitting.
The reality is that nuclear energy is one of the safest and most environmentally friendly energy sources available. The Breakthrough Institute, a think tank, has published research claiming that renewable energy sources would need to provide 42.5% of all German energy outputs in order to replace the energy previously provided by nuclear. To put that in to perspective, in 2009, Germany managed to achieve just 16.1% of its energy needs through renewable sources. It seems frankly impossible for that to be nearly tripled within a decade. The German environmentalists and Green Party who put so much pressure on the government for this rejection of nuclear power are unlikely to be pleased by the fact that, in practise, it will be fossil fuels that replace nuclear power, at least in the medium term. In addition Germany may be forced to import in order to fulfil its nuclear needs. It seems absurd for a country like Germany to sacrifice its energy security in response to panicking environmentalists.
With the German Greens being able to exploit the Fukushima crisis successfully and gaining increasing public support for their popular rhetoric it is obviously in Merkel’s political interests to take the anti-nuclear card away form the Greens and claim it as her own. However it certainly is not in Germany’s economic and environmental interests. Quite simply, public policy should not be a result of scare mongering. It should be a carefully thought out process reflecting the needs of the society and the risks that exist. The reality is that Germany needs nuclear energy and the risks are minimal.