global energy, radioactive fallout, to phase out, disappointed, anthropogenic,

climate change, households, segments, plea, anticipated, greenhouse gases,

accident, repository, decommissioning, carbon

Germany has shut down its last three nuclear power plants, and
some climate scientists are aghast
As of Sunday, April 16, Germany is no longer producing any electricity from nuclear power
plants.

Closures of the Emsland, Isar II, and Neckarwestheim II nuclear plants in Germany were
expected. The country announced plans ____________________ nuclear power in 2011. In
the fall of 2022, with the Ukraine war constraining access to energy especially in Europe,
Germany decided to keep these existing nuclear reactors operating for an additional few
months to bolster supplies.

“This was a highly ___________________ action. The German government extended the
lifetimes of these plants for a few months, but never planned beyond that,” David Victor, a
professor of innovation and public policy at UC San Diego, told CNBC.

Responses to the closures ranged from aghast that Germany would shut down a clean source
of energy production while global response to ________________________ climate change
continues to be insufficient, to celebratory that the country will avoid any nuclear accidents
like those that have happened in other parts of the world.

‘The whole thing is incomprehensible’

A collection of esteemed scientists, including two Nobel laureates and professors from the
likes of MIT and Columbia, made a last-minute _________ in an open letter published on
April 14 on the nuclear advocacy group’s website, RePlaneteers, to keep the reactors
operating.

“In view of the threat that ________________________ poses to life on our planet and the
obvious energy crisis in which Germany and Europe find themselves due to the unavailability
of Russian natural gas, we call on you to continue operating the last remaining German
nuclear power plants,” the letter states.
global energy, radioactive fallout, to phase out, disappointed, anthropogenic,
climate change, households, segments, plea, anticipated, greenhouse gases,
accident, repository, decommissioning, carbon

The Emsland, Isar II and Neckarwestheim II facilities provided more than 10 million German
______________________ with electricity, the open letter states. That’s a quarter of the
population. “This is hugely disappointing, when a secure low ________________ 24/7 source
of energy such as nuclear was available and could have continued operation for another 40
years,” Henry Preston, spokesperson for the World Nuclear Association, told CNBC.
“Germany’s nuclear industry has been world class. All three of those reactors shut down at
the weekend performed extremely well.”

Despite the shutdown, some ________________ of nuclear industrial processes will continue
to operate. “Germany’s nuclear sector will continue to be first class in the wider nuclear
supply chain in areas such as fuel fabrication and _____________________________”,
Preston told CNBC.

While the open letter did not succeed in keeping the nuclear reactors open, it does underscore
a crucial reason why nuclear power has been part of ____________________________
conversations recently, after a generational lull in the construction of nuclear power plants:
climate change.

Generating electricity with nuclear reactors does not create any

______________________________. And as global climate change response efforts continue
to fall short of emission targets, nuclear energy is getting renewed consideration.

“Obviously many people in the nuclear industry are _______________________ that the
government that cares a lot about climate change is shutting massive sources of zero-carbon
electric power,” Victor told CNBC.
global energy, radioactive fallout, to phase out, disappointed, anthropogenic,
climate change, households, segments, plea, anticipated, greenhouse gases,
accident, repository, decommissioning, carbon

Volker Quaschning, a professor of renewable energy at the Hochschule für Technik und
Wirtschaft Berlin, supports Germany closing its nuclear reactors because of the risk of an
____________________________.

“Nuclear energy is a risky technology. During the Chernobyl reactor accident, Germany was
hit by ____________________________________. A reactor accident in Germany would
make large parts of the country uninhabitable. In the course of global uncertainties, the risks
for nuclear energy are also increasing,” Quaschning told CNBC.

Also, radioactive waste management is “still unsolved in Germany,” Quaschning told CNBC.
“No one in Germany wants a __________________________ for highly radioactive waste
near them.”