Finally there is movement in the debate about extending the lifetime of German nuclear power plants. A current Insa survey for the “Bild” newspaper showed that 50 percent of Germans consider a return to the generation of energy using nuclear power plants to be sensible in this country.

35 percent of those questioned reject this, 15 percent do not provide any information. 63 percent of Green voters reject nuclear power in general, compared to 49 percent of SPD voters. But all other groups of voters would welcome a return to nuclear power.

In the last survey by Insa on this topic in October last year, the camps of supporters and opponents of a lifetime extension were still equally strong. The war in Ukraine and the realization that we must become independent of Russian oil and gas have changed opinion.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the nuclear phase-out in this country was a wrong decision. While many industrialized countries are relying on climate-friendly nuclear power in the fight against global warming, Germany has undertaken something that is almost impossible to achieve by phasing out coal and nuclear power at the same time: the conversion of the power supply to wind and sun, while the energy transition reduces the electricity demand increases enormously.

The reason for the exit, the Fukushima tsunami catastrophe, is an example of how far-fetched the decision was. Even the federal government’s reactor commission had stated that such an event was practically impossible in Germany. And according to the UN, it is doubtful whether there were or will be fatalities at all due to the radiation in Fukushima.

FDP leader Christian Lindner has already picked up the ball and shown himself open to extending the life of German nuclear power plants. Nevertheless, nuclear power is not a “cure-all”, the fuel for nuclear power plants also comes “from problematic regions of the world”.

But that’s the dilemma: coal is problematic, oil and gas are problematic, and wind turbines are problematic too. It’s about weighing risks against each other. And nuclear power plants of the latest design have good arguments on their side.

What does not work is the German attitude of relying on electricity supplies from neighboring countries and wanting to remain innocent in terms of energy policy as a world child in the middle.