Ulrich Beck on Germany's cunning nuclear phase-out

With their nuclear phase-out the Germans are securing an advantage on the global market for future technologies, sociologist Ulrich Beck explains in the left-liberal daily El País: "After Chernobyl and Fukushima, anyone who claims that nuclear power plants - be they French, British, American, Chinese or whatever - are safe is overlooking the fact that from an empirical point of view the opposite conclusion must be drawn: only one thing is for sure, the next large-scale accident. ... Can the nuclear exit be put down to a panic reaction? No. It's not the Germans' fear. It's the economy, stupid! Nuclear energy will grow more and more expensive in the long term, while renewable energies become cheaper. The Germans are driven by a cunning fear. They have sniffed out the economic possibilities of the global market of the future. In German, the energy turnaround is a synonym for new jobs. A cynic might say: let the others go on proudly fearless - this will end in economic stagnation and failed investments. The defenders of nuclear power are blocking their own path to the future markets by not investing in energy-saving products and renewable energies or 'green' universities, careers and research institutes."

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