Germany is on course to end its reliance on nuclear power in 2022 but will not pressure other countries to follow suit, the country’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Tuesday.
“I think every nation has the right and also responsibility to choose its own energy base,” he said on the sidelines of the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit. “The energy base is a national decision, and we in Germany think that the time has come to enter a new age of renewable energies.”
Germany closed eight of its 17 nuclear power stations immediately after Japan’s Fukushima disaster last March, and has pledged the shutdown of the remainder by 2022.
The country has embarked on a 200 billion euro ($267 billion) project to replace its former 20 gigawatt nuclear power capacity.
Concerns have been raised over the ability of the nation’s electricity network to handle the removal of nuclear power.
But Westerwelle said the country could meet the challenge.
“We have a clear timetable and this is the idea of 2022. We know that this is an ambitious goal but if someone can reach it we think that it is a high tech nation like Germany. We think that this will bring a lot of benefits also to our prosperous nation at home. We think it is a lot of work, it is not easy work, but I think that it is possible. I think it is doable and that we will reach this goal.”
Westerwelle said that the move was not only about environmental protection but also economic motivations.
“We think that this is not only necessary for ecological reasons, we also think that if you look to the future, that if we are the early bird on renewable energies, it is also an advantage for our economy,” he said.
“Renewable energy creates jobs so there is no altruistic focus. This is a rational political decision that we think the idea of being a leader in the field of technology of renewable energy brings a lot of benefit to our country but once again, it is of course a national decision to decide and choose the energy mix. We went our way and I think that there is a lot of respect in this discussion. Of course, there are a lot of questions.”
Westerwelle also said that Germany had pledged to strengthen safeguards on civilian use of highly enriched uranium and radioactive materials following his speech at the Seoul summit.
By Kirsty Taylor (
kirstyt@heraldcorp.com)
