One country, two energy plans

Germany plans to phase out nuclear energy by 2021, but the country`s energy companies are racing to build new atomic power plants all over Europe, much to the dismay of the governing Social Democrats.

The other half of the German government, Chancellor Angela Merkel`s center-right Christian Democrat Union, or CDU, is likely to silently cheer over a new advance by German power giant E.ON, which Wednesday announced it is bidding for a concession to build a state-of-the-art nuclear power plant in Cernavoda, Romania.
E.ON Energy head Johannes Teyssen in so many words said his company would keep pushing energy sources, even if they have been sidelined by politics.

‘Either we accept a growing regulation of the national and international energy policy — then we are dictated in what we invest, how we behave and where we can grow,’ he explained Wednesday in Munich. ‘Or we energetically face the competition on a European stage. We decided to do the latter.’

It will not improve the lobby of the SPD to phase out nuclear energy if German companies evolve into market leaders of the controversial technology. Siemens, one of Germany`s most prominent companies, is also keen on keeping its technology edge when it comes to building safe and modern nuclear power plants.

Monsters and Critics