Calgary Greta Thunberg Says Ditching Nuclear Power While Keeping Coal Is 'A Mistake' | HuffPost Latest News - Action.News ABC Action News WestNet-HD Weather Traffic

Earlier this year, Greta Thunberg strongly opposed including nuclear power on the European Unions list of approved forms of green energy as the bloc looked to decarbonize its economy.

But as the war in Ukraine spurs historic energy shortages across Europe, the Swedish teenage activist said this week its better to keep reactors going rather than turn to coal-fired power plants.

Personally, I think its a very bad idea to focus on coal when this is already in place, Thunberg said.

Before calling it a very infected debate, Thunberg told 19-year-old German talk-show host Sandra Maischberger: If we have them already running, I feel its a mistake to close them down in order to focus on coal.

Ahead of the interviews Wednesday night air date on the broadcaster ARD, an English-language clip began to circulate online Tuesday,

Are the #nuclear power plants the better choice for the time being now? @GretaThunberg: If we have them already running, I feel that it's a mistake to close them down in order to focus on coal.

Watch the full interview on Wednesday evening on #maischberger! ARD/@DasErste pic.twitter.com/0ds39dNVqo

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Are the #nuclear power plants the better choice for the time being now? @GretaThunberg : If we have them already running, I feel that it's a mistake to close them down in order to focus on coal.

Watch the full interview on Wednesday evening on #maischberger ! ARD/@DasErste pic.twitter.com/0ds39dNVqo
Maischberger (@maischberger) October 11, 2022

Germany began rapidly shutting down its nuclear fleet after the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan. While Europes largest economy deployed large numbers of renewables, the country became heavily dependent on natural gas from Russia to provide heat and backup electricity when solar and wind power underperformed. Once Russias invasion of Ukraine disrupted that supply, Germany started facing severe energy shortages, crippling its industrial sector and sending utility bills skyrocketing.

Opposition to nuclear energy has cut across ideological lines in Germany. The Energiewende transition from atomic power began under conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel. Her successor, Olaf Scholz, a center-left Social Democratic Party member, expected to continue that trajectory, particularly since his ruling coalition includes the fiercely anti-nuclear Green Party. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, who serves as economy minister and oversees energy policy, is from the Green Party.

Many countries that turned against nuclear power after Fukushima have recently reversed course amid soaring energy costs and concerns over the grip autocratic countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia, and China have over the supply chains for fossil fuels and renewables.

Japan vowed to restart its mothballed nuclear reactors. South Korea elected a new conservative president who pledged to undo his liberal predecessors efforts to shrink the countrys nuclear industry. Last month, California lawmakers voted to keep the states last nuclear plant open through the decades end.

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