Majority of Germans against nuclear phaseout: Survey

BERLIN

The majority of Germans are against the nuclear phaseout, according to a survey released by public broadcaster ARD on Friday.

Some 59% of respondents said the German government’s decision to abandon nuclear energy was wrong, while 34% said the decision was right.

Among those who opposed the nuclear phaseout, 66% of them said they were concerned about an increase in energy prices after the shutdown of nuclear power plants this month.

Support for abandoning nuclear energy was higher among young Germans, according to the representative survey.

Some 50% of people aged between 18 and 34 expressed their support for Germany’s nuclear phaseout. Among people aged 65 and over, 64% opposed this decision.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s left-liberal coalition government is planning to phase nuclear power out and fill the gap with renewable energy and alternative sources.

The country’s last three nuclear power will be shut down on Saturday, according to the plan agreed upon last year.

The government is trying to prevent energy shortage by purchasing more gas from Norway and increasing imports via pipelines from Belgium and the Netherlands.

To receive enough liquefied natural gas (LNG) to entirely replace Russian gas, Berlin is also building new terminals at northern German ports.