Germany has finally shut down its nuclear generation capability. One appreciates the desire to move to an all-renewable strategy for electricity supply, but the premature closures of atomic power stations has increased the use of fossil fuels. An earlier stop to nuclear development led to the prolonged use of lignite a particularly dirty fuel. More recently, Germany turned to natural gas, cleaner, but still a fossil fuel and one which contributes to global warming. Moreover, Germany became dependent on Russia for the supply of gas; trying to reverse that situation as a result of international politics has brought lignite back into the picture.
At the same time, Finland's Chinese-designed nuclear power station (of the same type planned for Sizewell) at Oikiluoto has gone into full production after 7 months of trials. One would like to think that ministers Graham Stuart and Jeremy Hunt will keep an eye on performance at Oikiluoto with a view to learning lessons for Sizewell C (if it ever gets built).
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