Germany phasing out nuclear when it did was completely political. You could have had a much more significant climate and public health impact by phasing out lignite-fuelled power generation (the mining itself is horrendous) and then working to phase out nuclear thereafter, but that would have lost Merkel the vote in the lignite-mining regions. It was a knee jerk response to Fukushima in a country that faces no earthquakes or tsunamis - the risks of another 10-15 years of operation were minimal.
(Sorry Oliver, I respect you a lot but when half of the Germans I know tell me that microwaves make water change its molecular structure I tend to think that Germany has a nuke phobia that goes beyond actual facts.)
As for Nord Stream 2 - that pipeline was a mistake, but it was agreed when Yanukovich was running Ukraine. If you believed Ukraine was going to remain a corrupt Russian client state taking its own cut on transit then having a route around it seemed more sensible then it does now.
Coming in very late to the energy discussion…
Germany phasing out nuclear when it did was completely political. You could have had a much more significant climate and public health impact by phasing out lignite-fuelled power generation (the mining itself is horrendous) and then working to phase out nuclear thereafter, but that would have lost Merkel the vote in the lignite-mining regions. It was a knee jerk response to Fukushima in a country that faces no earthquakes or tsunamis - the risks of another 10-15 years of operation were minimal.
(Sorry Oliver, I respect you a lot but when half of the Germans I know tell me that microwaves make water change its molecular structure I tend to think that Germany has a nuke phobia that goes beyond actual facts.)
As for Nord Stream 2 - that pipeline was a mistake, but it was agreed when Yanukovich was running Ukraine. If you believed Ukraine was going to remain a corrupt Russian client state taking its own cut on transit then having a route around it seemed more sensible then it does now.