Ursula von der Leyen -Phasing out nuclear power was 'strategic mistake'
- EU Chief's March 10 acknowledgement echoes German Chancellor Merz's January 15, 2026 observations.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed on Saturday, February 28, 2026. Since then, the geographic choke point of the Strait of Hormuz has loomed large in world awareness as Iranian military activity has essentially halted commercial traffic flowing through this strait. Iran’s territory lies to the north of the strait.
This Google satellite view shows the roughly 20 mile width of the Strait of Hormuz. The scale bar in the lower right corner shows 50 miles.
About 20% of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) is transported by tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Those feedstocks supply energy for transportation and fertilizer manufacture, among other essential human needs. Disruption of this transportation route, which is now essentially closed, causes adverse worldwide consequences.
On January 15, 2026 during his speech, German Chancellor Merz acknowledged Germany’s strategic vulnerability in advance of the present Iranian conflict. If Germany had continued to use its well-maintained fleet of 37 nuclear power reactors instead of needlessly shutting them all down by April 2023, Germany’s economy would be much more resilient in response to supply shocks such as the present shut down of the Strait of Hormuz. Merz’s speech was summarized in a January 19, 2026 GreenNUKE [Californians for Green Nuclear Power - CGNP] Substack article.
German Nuclear Power Phase Out a "Huge Mistake"- Chancellor Merz
This is the background article to the article I coauthored which was published earlier today in Tuco’s Child Newsletter.
The significant problem is that modern industrial societies require dispatchable (under human control) high-quality energy such as that provided by nuclear fission and fossil fuels - the latter both as a feedstock and as an energy supply. Unfortunately, Socialist “thought leadership” during the past quarter of a century has aggressively pushed for the industrial West to utilize low-quality intermittent electric power from solar, wind, and batteries instead of the above high-quality energy sources. This policy choice unilaterally disadvantages the West. However, the Socialist BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are granted a pass via the same thought leadership. One of the ways to see this is the observation that the People’s Republic of China has been consuming more coal in recent years than the rest of the world combined. China is also a significant consumer of sanctioned Iranian crude petroleum, which it purchases at a discount. Any pollution reductions by the West are more than nullified by the increase in Chinese air and water pollution. CGNP characterizes these outcomes as, “Sheer hypocrisy.”
The January 19, 2026 GreenNUKE Substack article criticized Western media for under-reporting Chancellor Merz’s speech. Unfortunately, the pattern of under-reporting has been continued regarding E.U. head Ursula von der Leyen’s March 10, 2026 speech in Paris, France at the 2026 International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) Energy Summit. Europe’s (and in particular Germany’s) needless shutting down of nuclear power reactors was a “Strategic mistake” because it made Europe, with the exception of France, much more vulnerable to disruption of crude oil and LNG as energy inputs for electricity generation. France learned from the 1973 Arab oil embargo to use nuclear power for electricity generation. Currently about 65 - 70% of France’s electricity is supplied by nuclear fission, making France a world leader in low-cost reliable electricity generation with minimal pollution harming the environment.
CGNP remains optimistic that reporters could use the links to news stories below to create informative stories regarding E.U. head von der Leyen’s March 10, 2026 speech. The IAEA provided considerable detail at their website.
Group photo of the IAEA 2026 Nuclear Energy Summit courtesy of the IAEA. In two of the stories below, E.U. head von der Leyen was pictured wearing a blue blazer.
Global Leaders Convene in France for Nuclear Energy Summit
The Nuclear Energy Summit, hosted by France, took place today. President Macron opened the summit together with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, joined by global leaders and representatives of more than 60 countries.
10 March 2026
Monika Shifotoka, IAEA Office of Public Information and Communication
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/global-leaders-convene-in-france-for-nuclear-energy-summit
IAEA Scientific Programme details
https://www.iaea.org/events/nuclear-energy-summit-2026/programme
This Deutsche Welle (German) news story provides details. Unfortunately, it focuses on some opposition by a few Greenpeace activists acting as bullies. There is also a sensationalist portrayal of the risks posed by ionizing radiation that are not supported by robust data sets such as the lack of injuries or deaths from ionizing radiation from U.S. commercial nuclear power since those operations began in 1957. There is a similar lack of injuries or deaths from ionizing radiation in the U.S. nuclear Navy. I believe there is a similar lack of injuries or deaths from ionizing radiation for German commercial nuclear power operations spanning more than four decades.
EU chief: Phasing out nuclear power was ‘strategic mistake’
Zac Crellin with AFP, Reuters
03/10/2026 March 10, 2026
https://amp.dw.com/en/europe-eu-nuclear-power-strategic-mistake/a-76289274
The Reuters news coverage is more balanced.
Reducing Europe’s nuclear energy sector was ‘strategic mistake’, EU chief says
By Forrest Crellin and Gianluca Lo Nostro
March 10, 2026 6:03 AM PDT Updated 23 hours ago
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/reducing-nuclear-energy-strategic-mistake-eu-chief-says-2026-03-10/
Here is the Bloomberg Law coverage.
EU Made ‘Mistake’ in Phasing Out Nuclear, Von Der Leyen Says
March 10, 2026, 8:01 AM PDT
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/eu-made-mistake-in-phasing-out-nuclear-von-der-leyen-says-2
John Ainger, Bloomberg News
Here’s a good background March 24, 2021 story from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy.
Nuclear Power is the Most Reliable Energy Source and It’s Not Even Close
Nuclear energy has the highest capacity factor of any energy source.
By Mike Mueller, Former Senior Digital Content Strategist
https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/nuclear-power-most-reliable-energy-source-and-its-not-even-close
Here’s a November 12, 2025 World Nuclear News background article.
Nuclear power is making a comeback, says IEA
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/nuclear-power-is-making-a-comeback-says-iea
Finally, here is a concise March 11, 2026 article critical of the widespread Western adoption of solar, wind, and batteries by Scott Grout, a new Substack author. Scott chronicles the economic waste of these trillion-dollar expenditures.
The Great Energy Detour
CGNP looks forward to your thoughts in the comments below.
From the Wall Street Journal:
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/energy-crisis-gives-a-crew-of-farming-microbes-a-shot-at-redemption-bb777746
Nuclear Entscheidungsreue
“Entscheidungsreue” is German for “decision regret.” JPMorgan energy expert Michael Cembalest estimates that Germany’s decision to decommission its nuclear power plants in the wake of the Fukushima disaster may have raised electricity prices by 25%.
Additional details are found in this March 9, 2026 article, "The cost of Germany's long and painful nuclear regret."
https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/2026030945/the-cost-of-germanys-long-and-painful-nuclear-regret
By Jules Rimmer
Germany's decision to decommission its nuclear program may have raised electricity prices by 25%.....
.....German energy intensive manufacturing output
The competitive repercussions have been severe: Germany's industrial power prices are now three times higher than those of the U.S. and China. This partly explains, Cembalest writes, the deindustrialization that has afflicted its economy so debilitatingly in the last few years.
Cembalest cites research by Radiant Energy Group that the cost of restarting Class 2 reactors could be $1 billion to $ 3 billion each. It's feasible, they say, but it's not cheap......
On Monday, March 16, 2026, Roger Pielke, Jr. analyzed a pair of scenarios where Europe grew its nuclear power fleet instead of cutting it back during the past 15 years.. "How Europe Undermined Its Own Energy Security - The revealing math behind Europe's nuclear power blunder"
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/how-europe-undermined-its-own-energy
My summary is that Europe would have been much more immune to fossil energy supply shocks like Russia's use of its natural gas supply as a means to project power outside its borders. Minimizing those supply shocks was the rationale for France's decision to grow its nuclear reactor fleet after the 1973 Arab oil embargo. As a result, France's electric power sector emits considerably less pollution per kilowatt-hour than neighboring Germany which unilaterally and unnecessarily shut down its nuclear reactor fleet by 2023. France's electricity is also much more economical than Germany's
I believe if California's energy choices during the same time frame were analyzed, the results would be similar to Germany's When California's large electricity imports are properly accounted for. power sector pollution has increased. California also has the highest power rates in the continental U.S.