Germans split as last three nuclear power stations go off grid

[아이앤아이월드]

By Damien McGuinness

BBC News, Berlin

On one side of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Saturday, there was partying: anti-atomic activists celebrated victory in a battle that had lasted 60 years.

On the other side of the Gate, there were protests, as demonstrators marched against the closure of Germany's three remaining nuclear power stations.

By midnight on Saturday, Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2 had all gone offline.

At the Brandenburg Gate, where the Wall once divided Cold War Berlin, nuclear energy is an ideological fault-line that splits the country. It is an issue that is emotionally charged like few others. And particularly now as war in Europe again looms large.

Both sides accuse each other of irrational ideology.

Conservative commentators and politicians say the country is in thrall to Green Party dogma, that scraps domestic nuclear power at a time when cutting Russian energy means rising prices. They accuse the government of increasing reliance on fossil fuels instead of using nuclear, which has lower emissions.

"It's a black day for climate protection in Germany," said Jens Spahn, conservative CDU MP, on RTL television earlier this week.

URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65260673