The bitter capriciousness of history almost got in the way of the Green Party, who as Environment Minister under Chancellor Schröder sealed the end of nuclear energy in the early 2000s and watched over it as a member of the Bundestag until the end. Even before Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the realization was growing in many industrialized countries that weather-dependent energy sources such as wind and solar alone would not be enough to abandon coal, gas and oil. Nuclear power is currently experiencing a global renaissance as a result of the climate protection discussion. When Germany’s “energy transition”, which had led straight to dependence on Russian natural gas, became an acute supply and security problem for all of Europe with Putin’s war, a timid debate began even in the Federal Republic about whether the nuclear phase-out should be postponed or abandoned .
