Friedrich Merz wants ‘new’ nuclear energy concepts without prejudice

The new CDU chairman, Friedrich Merz, has criticized the new federal government’s energy policy plans. They would not do justice to the expected development of electricity demand – but neither are his suggestions. During a meeting of the leaders of the trade union parties, Merz criticized the fact that the federal government’s targets for switching to renewable energy sources were not achievable for his party. The recently established traffic light coalition has set itself the goal of increasing the share of renewable energy in the electricity mix to 80 percent by 2030.

Given the electrification of various other forms of energy consumption, this is quite an ambitious project. According to a report from the news agency, Merz is confident that this “cannot be realized with the current concept of the federal government”. DPA explained. He, therefore, demanded that people also speak ‘unprejudiced’ about new forms of use of nuclear energy. Merz emphasized that it is not about reversing the current nuclear phase-out. I don’t want to question this.

Old wine in new bags

But from his point of view, for example, fusion energy and “the latest forms of energy production from nuclear power” should be considered and discussed. By the latter, Merz understands the concepts of dual fluid and thorium reactors that come up again and again in the field. However, these are not particularly new – some tests were discontinued decades ago or it was not yet possible to implement the systems in practice. Experts in the energy sector are therefore likely to simply dismiss it. Because even if these concepts were to play a role in energy generation in the future, they will have no impact on the power supply for the next 15 years. Because building a commercially usable nuclear power plant during this period is simply unrealistic – not to mention nuclear fusion.