A bitter dispute has arisen in Europe over the role of nuclear power. France and many Eastern European countries see zero-emission nuclear power as an opportunity to produce green hydrogen, but the federal government and Spain reject this. In your opinion, what role will nuclear power play in the future hydrogen economy in Europe?
France and other European countries are planning to build numerous new nuclear power plants. I am sure that these states will not allow themselves to be banned from making hydrogen from nuclear power. And then comes the know-it-all federal government that imports nuclear power and rejects it because, in their opinion, really green hydrogen can only be produced on the basis of sun and wind? This is not only narrow-minded, but also contradicts the goal of reducing CO2 wherever possible. We won’t get any further with the color theory of green, blue or gray hydrogen.
Also read: How useful is hydrogen from nuclear power?
You were an energy manager, but also held political offices as Hamburg’s environmental senator. Would fracking or a longer term for nuclear power plants be politically enforceable at all?
Even as mayor of Hamburg, the chancellor was always open to technologies such as CO2 capture that benefit climate protection. But he has probably now imagined what would happen if the first drilling took place in Lower Saxony, where most of the domestic gas reserves are underground. One day later “Ende Gelände” is there and on the second day the Evangelical Church builds a wooden church next to it…