--- title: "Greta Thunberg Thinks Germany Shutting Down Its Nuclear Plants Is a Bad Idea" description: "Germany has once again fired up its coal plants. But Greta Thunberg thinks the country should just use its already in place nuclear power plants instead." date: "2022-10-14" modified: "2022-10-14" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/greta-thunberg-thinks-germany-shutting-down-its-nuclear-plants-is-a-bad-idea" categories: - "Energy" - "Nuclear Fusion" - "Renewable Energy" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "greta thunberg" - "Nuclear Energy" - "nuclear power" - "the digest" --- # Greta Thunberg Thinks Germany Shutting Down Its Nuclear Plants Is a Bad Idea ![Germany has once again fired up its coal plants. But Greta Thunberg thinks the country should just use its already in place nuclear power plants instead.]() *\Image: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images\* ## Who Needs Coal? Prominent climate activist Greta Thunberg has seemingly changed her tune — or at least softened her stance — on nuclear power. In an interview on the German national TV channel *Das Erste* this week, the 19-year-old Swedish activist shared her thoughts on the German government’s decision to revert to burning coal in the wake of a deepening energy crisis brought about by the Russia-Ukraine war. "Personally I think that it’s a very bad idea to focus on coal when \[nuclear power\] is already in place," Thunberg said [in the interview](). "But of course, it’s a very infected debate." ## Timely Solution When asked if nuclear power is the "better choice for the time being" to address the climate crisis, Thunberg said "it depends." "If we have them already running," she continued, "I feel that it’s a mistake to close them down in order to focus on coal." The interviewer pressed Thunberg on her answer, and asked if she thinks nuclear power should be phased out as soon as possible, but her answer to that, too, was "it depends." "We don’t know what will happen after this," Thunberg added. ## Change of Heart Thunberg’s responses are a marked departure from her usual rhetoric surrounding nuclear power. It was only as recently as this summer that Thunberg lumped natural gas and nuclear power together, condemning them both as "false solutions" that were a symptom of "greenwashing," in [a tweet]() ahead of the European Parliament’s eventual decision to label the two forms of energy as renewables. Still, Thunberg’s replies this week were noticeably cautious, avoiding outright decrying nuclear power, but also avoiding touting it as the panacea to our energy and climate problems. Wherever she truly stands on nuclear, it’s a bold — albeit somewhat tepid — position to take in a country like Germany, which has had a strained relationship with nuclear power despite being early adopters. The government vowed in 2011 to shut down all nuclear power plants by the end of this year, but those plans [have been delayed]() as the nation struggles to worm its way out of the energy crisis. **More on nuclear power:** *[China Announces Plan for Hybrid Fission-Fusion Power Facility]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()