IAEA chief says German return to nuclear power is 'logical'

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in an interview late on Wednesday that it was "rational" for Germany to return to nuclear power even though the country's phase out was completed in 2023.

"I think it's a logical. It's a rational position," Rafael Grossi told German news agency DPA, noting that Germany is the only country in the world to have completely phased out nuclear energy.

Speaking at the COP29 UN Climate Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, Grossi added:  "You might wonder: Why does the rest of the world see things differently... I respect German politics, and you are going through a very complex phase, so we will see."

He said he was "not surprised" there was renewed debate about returning to nuclear power, as it emits almost no greenhouse gases.

"This is why countries that have nuclear want more nuclear," he said. "Many countries that did not have nuclear want nuclear."

Grossi stressed, however, that Germany would first need a rigorous assessment of if and how its plants could be brought back online.

Why did Germany phase out nuclear power?

Germany has had an anti-atomic energy movement almost since the country's first commercial nuclear power plant came online in 1969, led by environmentals concerned about the devastating consequences of a potential meltdown.

Nuclear disasters such as that in Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 turbocharged calls to turn off the country's plants.

Facing strong opposition to nuclear energy after the 2011 catastrophe in Japan, former Chancellor Angela Merkel initiated Germany's total phase out of its atomic plants.

Before the process began, nuclear energy accounted for about 13.3% of the country's energy. Moving away from nucear and becoming increasingly reliant on cheap Russian gas prompted an energy crisis in Germany following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing sanctions against Russian fuel companies.

Merkel, a conservative from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), started the phase-out of nuclear energy. However, last week, the CDU group in the Bundestag criticized the current center-left coalition for not stopping the phase-out in 2022 and 2023.

According to a 2024 article in the International Journal of Sustainable Energy, Germany could have saved hundreds of billions of euros and reduced its carbon emissions by as much as 70% by embracing nuclear energy rather than rejecting it.

es/lo (dpa, DW sources)