Sounds promising but seeing is believing. A big problem is Germany's proportional representation system. In order to form a government you usually need the backing of fringe parties. And Mertz being a stubborn neoliberal globalist stooge won't accept any alliance with the most popular party, which is the populist, nationalist AfD.
So they end up in alliance with the Greens or SPD which are anti-nuclear. The Greens would rather cut one limb off than support nuclear. And have and can make a continuing nuclear blockade as a term of their support.
And you get crap like happened in Ontario, the Conservatives in power, Nuclear reactors being built, NDP gets elected, nuclear construction stops. Fortunately they didn't go so far as to dismantle the nuclear builds.
Germany is a particularly odious case regarding opposition to nuclear. Spain is not that far behind Germany. The U.K is also problematic. Don't forget California....
Here's a January 21, 2026 Nuclear Engineering International news story:
Germany rethinks nuclear phaseout - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the nuclear phase-out was a strategic error that has raised energy costs and left Germany short of generation capacity.
Solid reporting on Merz's speech that western media basically ignored. The fact that Germany now spends massively on subsidies while importing coal and gas to compensate for lost nuclear capacity is exactly what some folks predicted back in 2011. What gets me is the geopolitical angle, how Putin effectively weaponized energy dependence while Germany voluntarily dismantled its most stable baseload. Seen similar dynamics play out in CA around Diablo Canyon where theres this weird coalition of fossil interests masquerading as green policy.
Thank you for your accurate summary of the dynamics surrounding the opposition to nuclear power. "We will shoot ourselves in the foot to advantage fossil energy!"
Thanks for reporting this, Gene. I won’t hold my breath while waiting for Merz’s declaration to appear in any mainstream western media.
I couldn’t help but be reminded of the worst chancellor in modern German history. Yes, Angela Merkel. Her ill-advised “greening” of German energy collapsed that country’s world class manufacturing/export prowess, made Germany dependent on Russian natural gas and destabilized the German grid generally. Add to that opening the border to millions of middle eastern men who are coalescing as a clear present and future threat to German culture itself. Future historians will observe that no external enemy could have accomplished what Merkel has wrought.
I agree. Angela Merkel is a cunning politician. Per an April 20, 2020 Atlantic Magazine article, "Merkel was born in Hamburg in West Germany (in 1954.)" Her family moved to East Germany when she was an infant. A member of the communist East German Free German Youth (FDJ), Merkel obtained a doctorate in quantum chemistry in 1986 and worked as a research scientist until 1989." As other GreenNUKE articles note, the Socialists have implemented harmful policies like those in Germany in other locations such as California and Spain.
Quantum mechanics is one of the foundations of modern chemistry. As an example, quantum mechanics establishes the shape of the electron orbits around an atom's nucleus.. Angela Merkel's PhD thesis, completed in 1986, was titled in English: "Study of the mechanism of decay reactions with single bond rupture and calculation of their rate constants based on quantum chemical and statistical methods" (or similar translations of the German original), focusing on quantum chemistry at the Central Institute of Physical Chemistry in East Berlin
Many chemical phenomena at the molecular level are a consequence of quantum mechanics. One example is the resonance structure of the valence electrons of the carbon atoms in benzene. The structure of the periodic table is an example. Another example is the absorption of light by dyes. I was introduced to quantum chemistry concepts in my 1966-67 high school chemistry coursework developed by J. Arthur Campbell, Ph.D. and his colleagues of Harvey Mudd College (HMC.) (He was one of my professors at HMC.) The details regarding quantum chemistry filled many semesters of my university-level chemistry courses at the undergraduate and graduate school level. Additional details are found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_chemistry
A fellow nuclear power advocate alerted me to this January 15, 2026 Deseret News article regarding Merz's speech from Salt Lake City, Utah.
After 3 years without nuclear power, Germany is changing its mind. Why?
How does Germany’s renewed interest in nuclear energy fit in with the rest of the world?
By Eva Terry
https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2026/01/15/germany-nuclear-power-production-to-restart-friedrich-merz/
Sounds promising but seeing is believing. A big problem is Germany's proportional representation system. In order to form a government you usually need the backing of fringe parties. And Mertz being a stubborn neoliberal globalist stooge won't accept any alliance with the most popular party, which is the populist, nationalist AfD.
So they end up in alliance with the Greens or SPD which are anti-nuclear. The Greens would rather cut one limb off than support nuclear. And have and can make a continuing nuclear blockade as a term of their support.
And you get crap like happened in Ontario, the Conservatives in power, Nuclear reactors being built, NDP gets elected, nuclear construction stops. Fortunately they didn't go so far as to dismantle the nuclear builds.
Germany is a particularly odious case regarding opposition to nuclear. Spain is not that far behind Germany. The U.K is also problematic. Don't forget California....
Here's a January 21, 2026 Nuclear Engineering International news story:
Germany rethinks nuclear phaseout - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the nuclear phase-out was a strategic error that has raised energy costs and left Germany short of generation capacity.
https://www.neimagazine.com/news/germany-rethinks-nuclear-phaseout/
Solid reporting on Merz's speech that western media basically ignored. The fact that Germany now spends massively on subsidies while importing coal and gas to compensate for lost nuclear capacity is exactly what some folks predicted back in 2011. What gets me is the geopolitical angle, how Putin effectively weaponized energy dependence while Germany voluntarily dismantled its most stable baseload. Seen similar dynamics play out in CA around Diablo Canyon where theres this weird coalition of fossil interests masquerading as green policy.
Thank you for your accurate summary of the dynamics surrounding the opposition to nuclear power. "We will shoot ourselves in the foot to advantage fossil energy!"
Germany always takes the correct course of action, after all other options have been exhausted. 🤷♂️
Thanks for highlighting the Chancellor's reflections on the energy situation in Germany.
The candidates for higher office in CA should be required to go the record as to their stance in operating Diablo after 2030.
You are welcome. CGNP is working on California legislation to extend DCPP operations to 2045.
Thanks for reporting this, Gene. I won’t hold my breath while waiting for Merz’s declaration to appear in any mainstream western media.
I couldn’t help but be reminded of the worst chancellor in modern German history. Yes, Angela Merkel. Her ill-advised “greening” of German energy collapsed that country’s world class manufacturing/export prowess, made Germany dependent on Russian natural gas and destabilized the German grid generally. Add to that opening the border to millions of middle eastern men who are coalescing as a clear present and future threat to German culture itself. Future historians will observe that no external enemy could have accomplished what Merkel has wrought.
I agree. Angela Merkel is a cunning politician. Per an April 20, 2020 Atlantic Magazine article, "Merkel was born in Hamburg in West Germany (in 1954.)" Her family moved to East Germany when she was an infant. A member of the communist East German Free German Youth (FDJ), Merkel obtained a doctorate in quantum chemistry in 1986 and worked as a research scientist until 1989." As other GreenNUKE articles note, the Socialists have implemented harmful policies like those in Germany in other locations such as California and Spain.
Since chemistry takes place at the molecular level, WTF is quantum chemistry?
Quantum mechanics is one of the foundations of modern chemistry. As an example, quantum mechanics establishes the shape of the electron orbits around an atom's nucleus.. Angela Merkel's PhD thesis, completed in 1986, was titled in English: "Study of the mechanism of decay reactions with single bond rupture and calculation of their rate constants based on quantum chemical and statistical methods" (or similar translations of the German original), focusing on quantum chemistry at the Central Institute of Physical Chemistry in East Berlin
Thanks for the commercial, can you answer the question or has substack become Facebook?
Many chemical phenomena at the molecular level are a consequence of quantum mechanics. One example is the resonance structure of the valence electrons of the carbon atoms in benzene. The structure of the periodic table is an example. Another example is the absorption of light by dyes. I was introduced to quantum chemistry concepts in my 1966-67 high school chemistry coursework developed by J. Arthur Campbell, Ph.D. and his colleagues of Harvey Mudd College (HMC.) (He was one of my professors at HMC.) The details regarding quantum chemistry filled many semesters of my university-level chemistry courses at the undergraduate and graduate school level. Additional details are found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_chemistry