Top German Greens officials accused of deception in nuclear phase-out advice

After months of obstructions, a German high court forces the German government to disclose key internal memoranda regarding a nuclear phase-out following the February, 2022 Russian attack of Ukraine

Political power flows from the control of energy

Shortly after the February 24, 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, I observed that the "starting gun" for the Russian attack occurred about almost three months earlier at the end of December, 2021 when three of the remaining six nuclear power plants in Germany were needlessly shut down. Two days after these attacks started, The Wall Street Journal published,  "Russia’s Energy Dominance Ties West’s Hands in Ukraine War" https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-energy-dominance-ties-wests-hands-in-ukraine-war-11645884001.

I believe this was the first time that control of natural gas supplies emerged as a strategic weapon in a war between two nations. Russia is geographically near to Europe. According to https://www.worldometers.info/gas/gas-reserves-by-country/ Russia holds 24.3% of the world’s natural gas reserves. Those reserves total 1,688,228,000 MMcf, making Russia the nation with the largest natural gas reserves. The only European nation with significant natural gas reserves is Norway, with 72,358,000 MMcf, 1% of the world’s natural gas reserves. (Norway’s reserves are about 1/23 of Russia’s) Natural gas is a "just-in-time" energy source that cannot be practically stored at the point of use. Instead, it must be transmitted at 15 miles per hour via a network of large-diameter high-pressure pipelines. Russia's natural gas company Gazprom promoted its "secure" and economically-priced supply of natural gas to Europe via a set of natural gas pipelines such as their two Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea (which bypass Ukraine and Poland) to northern Europe.

https://www.nord-stream.com/ (Note this very professional and informative website.)

Here's a copy of the text on the sign from a website.

This misleading claim appeared on a sign in the first photograph showing a natural gas pumping station in the August 19, 2022 Georgi Kantchev  article, " Russia to Halt Nord Stream Gas Flows to Europe, Citing Pipeline Maintenance" in The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-to-halt-gas-flows-to-europe-for-pipeline-maintenance-11660934206?st=ca40dc8r3472jx1&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

With the needless shut down of Germany's dispatchable (under human control) nuclear power reactor fleet, Germany became dependent on dispatchable natural gas fired generation for its electricity supply. With the supply of Russian natural gas now severely curtailed, Germany's economy is now in tatters. Its power prices are some of the highest in Europe. Energy-intensive and natural-gas-intensive industries such as fertilizer manufacture (and jobs) are departing Germany for nations with favorable energy policies. A political scandal regarding the German “Traffic Light” coalition and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck is unfolding. The German nuclear phase-out was based on fraudulent and manipulated information. (Watch for the follow-up GreenNUKE article.)

Recent German Government Auditor Negative Evaluation of the Energiewende

Here is a March 11, 2024 summary of an evaluation of the German energy transition by the German analogue of the U.S. General Accounting Office.

(Germany Radio)

"Implementation of the energy transition: Criticism by the Federal Audit Office of the government sparks discussions"

The Federal Audit Office's (Bundesrechnungshof's) critical assessments of the federal government's implementation of the energy transition (Energiewende) continues to spark discussions. The financial controllers had submitted a special report. The measures taken by the (political parties) the SPD, the Greens and the FDP are rated as inadequate. It was said that the electricity supply in Germany was at risk.

March 11, 2024

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/kritik-des-bundesrechnungshofs-an-regierung-loest-diskussionen-aus-100.html

· The President of the Federal Audit Office, (Kay) Scheller, stated that secure (electricity) supply was at risk.

· In addition, it is said that electricity prices in Germany are among the highest in the EU. In this context, the Federal Ministry of Economics is accused of not taking into account the investment costs necessary for the expansion when presenting the costs for electricity from renewable energies.

· (The Federal Minister of Economics and Vice Chancellor Robert) Habeck had already sharply criticized the report yesterday.

Here is the German Federal Audit Office's March 7, 2024 Press Release:

Energy transition not on track: Germany is lagging behind its ambitious goals

Press Release Year of issue 2024
Date March 7, 2024

https://www.bundesrechnungshof.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/2024/energiewende.html?nn=23488

Press release on the special report on the implementation of the energy transition with regard to security of supply, affordability and environmental compatibility of the electricity supply

Under the section Insufficient Capacity:

Electricity generation from photovoltaics and wind systems is subject to fluctuations, which can lead to supply gaps. Therefore, the addition of sufficient, secured, controllable backup capacities by 2030 is of central importance. The BMWK (The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection) must guarantee this 

Under the section ...endanger the security of supply.

The goal of a secure supply of electricity cannot be guaranteed in the long term. The federal government must therefore

·         consider different probabilities of occurrence and also include a “worst case” scenario,

·         Take measures to ensure the expansion of renewable energies and secure, controllable power plant output at all times

·         give the actors planning security in order to invest in the necessary generation capacities and electricity networks.

Under the section Ensure affordability

High electricity prices represent a significant risk for Germany as a business location and the acceptance of the energy transition. Electricity prices in Germany have risen continuously in recent years. They are among the highest in the EU . Further price increases are foreseeable. By 2045, the expansion of the electricity grid alone (emphasis added) will require massive investment costs of more than 460 billion euros. (492 billion U.S. dollars.) The BMWK has not yet taken these system costs into account when presenting the costs for electricity from renewable energies. In order to counteract the very high electricity prices, the federal government has repeatedly subsidized them selectively with state funds. “This creates a false picture of the actual costs of the transformation,” makes clear Scheller.

Please read the entire article and press release. The German economy is in trouble. German government leaders advocating for this set of energy policies are now being criticized.

The fraudulent basis for closing Germany's nuclear power plants in 2023

On April 25, 2024, I was alerted to this issue by eugyppius, a Substack writer. "New document release reveals the astounding fraud, deception and idiocy accompanying the German nuclear phase-out"

New document release reveals the astounding fraud, deception and idiocy accompanying the German nuclear phase-out

....In 2011, a tsunami caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster. If you check a map, you’ll notice that Fukushima is in a country called Japan, which it turns out is a different country from Germany. The Fukushima disaster had zero to do with the Federal Republic, but then-Chancellor Angela Merkel felt the need to solve the problem of Fukushima by phasing out nuclear power in Germany, even though tsunamis and earthquakes are not a problem in Germany, because Germany is a country in Central Europe and not an island nation in Asia....

Later on in the article is a link to the German Magazine Cicero which features a 14-page-long German language May, 2024 cover article by Daniel Gräber released on April 25, 2024,        "How the Greens were deceptive about the nuclear phase-out - The nuclear power files from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which Cicero sued for, show how the Green Party's puppet masters manipulated the decision to extend the life of German nuclear power plants in 2022. Robert Habeck was also misinformed."

https://www.cicero.de/innenpolitik/robert-habeck-akten-atomkraftwerke-kernkraftwerke-klage-akw-laufzeit-atomausstieg   (The stamp on the magazine's front cover may be translated as "Habeck's Secret Files.")

Regrettably, Cicero Magazin makes it very difficult for readers in the United States to read this important article, as it is behind a paywall that U.S. readers cannot currently access.  I contacted the author via email in Germany and he graciously sent me the entire text of the article in German within a couple of hours. When I told him that my last undergraduate class in German was 51 years ago, he sent me a link to an English language translation.   https://peterscoll.de/?page_id=225

The German GREENS SCANDAL ON THE NUCLEAR PHASE-OUT

by Björn Peters

NOTE: Below is a machine translation of an article by the monthly magazine Cicero that discovered how two German ministries betrayed the national Parliament (Bundestag) before its decision on the question whether or not to keep nuclear power.

The economic impact of the decision to switch nuclear power plants off in the midst of an energy crisis caused by detrimental policies and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cannot be underestimated.

The chronology:

·         Feb 20 (sic), 2022: Russia invades the Ukraine

·         Feb 27, 2022: The minister of the Economy, Robert Habeck, informs the public that the question whether to proceed with the planned nuclear phase-out in light of the invasion would not be decided by ideology.

·         Mar 7, 2022: The ministries for the Economy and the Environment publish statements to assess the legal, economical, operational and technical feasibility for a life-time extension.

·         Mar 9, 2022: In a mailing list read by a few thousand researchers, NGO employees and politicians (Strommarkttreffen), I published an assessment of the claims made by the ministries. In my view, the ministries show a severe lack of knowledge of essential facts and insights into nuclear markets, operations, technology and even regulation.

·         March 2022: Several journalists approach me for more details on my assessment. Other experts publish insights into the topics misrepresented in the original statements by the ministries. Over the summer 2022, several media publish criticism on the decision not to keep nuclear energy. The discussion is continued in national and regional parliaments.

·         Daniel Gräber from Cicero wants to know more, he asks the two ministries for more detailed (sic) on their decision-making process in Feb and Mar 2022 under the freedom of information act. The ministry for the environment responds but the one for the economy refuses to pass on such information. Daniel goes to court.

·         Feb 2024: The court rules that the ministry for the economy had to hand out all files. At the end of March, they reach Daniel.

·         Apr 25, 2024: Cicero publishes the story below as a title story in their April issue.

Special thanks to www.deepl.com for their amazing translation engine! Cicero published all relevant documents in PDF form within the article. I did not include the links here, as they are anyhow in German, nor did I translate the original documents. (I note the alternative is to use the machine translation available from Google. Their website translated the entire document in a few seconds.)

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Cicero Magazin provides an informative no-cost newsletter after you grant them permission to send you notifications and supply your email. The confirmation email appears only in the German language. Please  click the prominent "Hier Bestätigen" (Confirm Here) button in the middle of the email. In follow-on emails, there will be an email with a prominent button      "Vom Newsletter Abmelden" (Unsubscribe from the newsletter.) Do not click that button. Insure that your browser has been configured to auto-translate German text to English text.

Here are three relevant newsletter entries available to U.S. readers:

https://www.cicero.de/innenpolitik/habeck-atomkraft-atomausstieg

Politicians react to Habeck's secret files-“Revelations are a scandal and a reason for resignation”

Numerous politicians react to Robert Habeck's secret files on the nuclear phase-out, which Cicero exclusively evaluated and published. Particularly explosive: Traffic light (sic - Coalition ) politicians also sharply criticize the manipulative processes in the Federal Ministry of Economics.

BY CLEMENS TRAUB on April 25, 2024

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https://www.cicero.de/innenpolitik/die-nachste-cicero-ausgabe-erscheint-am-31-mai-kernschmelze

Cicero in May-Meltdown

We have released Robert Habeck's secret files on the nuclear phase-out. Our exclusive revelations, which you can read in the May issue, show a green anti-nuclear network that tricked, deceived and lied in the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

BY ALEXANDER MARGUIER on April 25, 2024

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https://www.cicero.de/wirtschaft/kernkraftwerke-retten-akw-atomkraft-studie-mark-nelson

STUDY FROM THE USA - At least eight German nuclear power plants could be saved

A FOUND BY DANIEL GRÄBER on July 21, 2023

Internationally renowned nuclear technology experts have examined nuclear power in Germany in detail. Their conclusion: It is not yet too late to reactivate the decommissioned reactors. The biggest hurdle is political will. (Mark Nelson and I are fellow nuclear power advocates. However, we are unrelated.)

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Emmet Penny's Nuclear Barbarians Substack summarized Daniel Gräber's article on April 26, 2024. "Germany Lied About The Nuclear Phaseout: Government documents reveal shocking green dishonesty"

Germany Lied About The Nuclear Phaseout

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Here's an April 26, 2024 Brussels Signal news article:

https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/04/top-german-officials-accused-of-manipulating-nuclear-phase-out-advice/

Top German officials accused of manipulating nuclear phase-out advice

The decision to close down the last working nuclear power plants in Germany was made on manipulated information, Berlin-based Cicero magazine has claimed

by Carl Deconinck

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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/26/german-greens-lying-nuclear-power-safety-plant-shutdown/

German greens accused of lying over nuclear power safety to force plant shutdowns

Junior ministers covered up key technical reports, claims media outlet Matt Oliver, Industry Editor, The U.K. Telegraph, 26 April 2024 • 12:48pm

Photo caption: Cooling tower of the nuclear power plant Emsland in Lingen, westernGermany.  Germany's decision to push ahead with the shutdown of its last nuclear power stations was branded "madness" by critics CREDIT: Ina Fassbender/AFP

Green party ministers in Germany have been accused of lying about safety issues at thecountry’s nuclear power plants to ensure they were shut down, even as the war inUkraine threatened European energy supplies...

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And on April 27, 2024 from Breitbart by Oliver JJ Lane:

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/04/27/germany-nuclear-scandal-forcing-shutdown-of-plants-during-energy-crisis-was-based-on-deception-report-claims/

Germany Nuclear Scandal: Forcing Shutdown of Plants During Energy Crisis Was Based on Deception, Report Claims

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As one of my readers observed when I sent him the information, politicians are prone to deceive to achieve their political goals. Large deceptions can have serious consequences. Germany shut down a perfectly-functioning and well-maintained nuclear reactor fleet. This made Germany mostly dependent on Russian natural gas for necessary dispatchable power. I believe this shutdown was a necessary step to embolden Putin to invade Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The cost in lives and treasure of this unnecessary war is quite large. It had the knock-on effect of initiating the October 7, 2023 war in Palestine with more deaths and costs. All in all, an incredible set of tragedies.  GreenNUKE will update this article soon based on subsequent news articles.

Note to California political leaders: There is danger in following Germany's footsteps. As Pandreco recently observed, "Electrons Have Consequences."

Undermining: Electrons have Consequences

Please like, subscribe, and share this article. Otherwise, you may end up with unreliable, highly-polluting power, just like Germany. Here’s looking at you, California!