Germany hammers Trump over debate barbs about Berlin’s energy transition
www.politico.eu
“P.S. We also don’t eat cats and dogs,” Berlin’s foreign ministry taunts Republican presidential candidate.

“P.S. We also don’t eat cats and dogs,” Berlin’s foreign ministry taunts Republican presidential candidate.

Germany’s foreign ministry hit back Wednesday at former U.S. President Donald Trump after he criticized the country’s energy policy at the presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump slammed Germany in his closing remarks, claiming Berlin regretted its decision to transition to renewable energy.

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But the German foreign ministry took umbrage at that, blasting Trump in an unusually blunt statement on social media.

“Like it or not: Germany’s energy system is fully operational, with more than 50 percent renewables,” the ministry wrote. “And we are shutting down — not building — coal and nuclear plants. Coal will be off the grid by 2038 at the latest.”

  • itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    0·
    7 days ago

    Where will you put the nuclear waste? Germany doesn’t even have the concept of a plan where to put theirs, they are currently keeping it

    a) in a corroding salt mine, that is currently leaking water and will poison the entire area’s ground water within 20 years, so it’ll have to be dug up again, which will cost many billions b) in above ground ‘temporary’ holding facilities c) shipping it off to other countries

    None of this is sustainable. Until the waste problem is solved, we shouldn’t even think about building out nuclear.

    • The_Terrible_Humbaba@slrpnk.netEnglish
      0·
      7 days ago

      It has already been solved, and a search should tell you all about it.

      I’m still on mobile, so sharing links is still a pain, but a few key things:

      Nuclear waste is produced quite slowly, so whatever cost you associate with storage is over a large period of time; we have the technology to build centrals that can use that waste to produce more energy, reducing waste even further.

      • itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        0·
        7 days ago

        No, it’s not. There are ways to recycle parts of the fuel rods, true, but not the thousands of tons of contaminated material that inevitably gather during operations and end-of-life of a reactor. You don’t honestly think that the only dangerous waste are spend fuel rods?

        And yes, the very problem is that storage needs to take place over geologic timescales. I can’t guarantee that our government will exist 20 years from now, much less 2000. Waste storage so far was managed so corruptly and incompetently that it is already failing after 50 years. Forgive me if I have little faith whenever someone claims that they’ll just dig a hole and forget about it for a few millennia. The waste sites need maintenance, and if that ever ends might poison a region’s ground water in perpetuity.