“Nuclear energy is not a sustainable technology” – SWR Aktuell

Professor Martina Hoffmann of Allen University Expert in renewable energies. She writes columns on climate knowledge and has recently joined the board of directors of the Union for the Conservation of Nature in Baden-Württemberg.

SWR: Ms. Hoffman, it’s annoying that we shut down nuclear power plants, but when there’s a huge demand for energy, we have to buy electricity from nuclear power plants in our neighboring countries. Is our energy transmission a hoax?

Professor Martina Hoffmann: I wouldn’t say that. Our power system is a big slow steamer and we’re about to push this steamer in a different direction. Nuclear power is very expensive. And in my opinion, it is not a sustainable technology because the potential for risk is very, very high.

I drew this picture of the ship. We are an industrial country. Can wind and solar power really replace coal, nuclear, and natural gas? Above all, what good is climate protection if other countries don’t go along with it?

So replace it. However, the way our power system currently operates is not possible because we have very few lines. So we have to significantly expand the high voltage lines, the power grid that we have. Of course, we have a great opportunity to make things easier with photovoltaics, which are very decentralized. I would also like to appeal to all people who still have free space on the roof. We focused relatively strongly on Germany. We really have to see now that the whole thing becomes an EU project. Otherwise, you can’t explain to anyone why you bought nuclear power elsewhere. We also know that some nuclear power plants in France are very old and sick. It’s not as far away as Fukushima or Chernobyl at that time.

Environmentalists paint a terrifying scenario of man-made climate change. Other scientists think we have to technically adapt to this. Still others point out that nature lives in larger cycles – and the Earth experiences climate change over and over with periods of cold and heat. We already had a tropical sea here in the area thousands of years ago. What is your location?

I would put it this way: We don’t care about the climate. Climate just happens. This climate protection word does not express what we need. We need human protection. This is my position on it. We can only live a nice and comfortable life within a certain temperature range. This only works at a maximum of 45 degrees. And we don’t need to talk much about it, everyone can feel it’s getting warmer. You can see that from the measurements. This luxury we made for ourselves is amazing. I didn’t want to give up on that either. But if we want to live well, we need nature. And so we have to act very urgently to ensure that nature conservation is reclaiming more space and that technology doesn’t dominate it.

You recently joined Board of Directors of the Union for the Conservation of Nature in Baden-Württemberg. What do you want to achieve there?

I just want to reconcile technology and nature conservation. Because I think we just need both. Nature must simply be protected a lot and technology must contribute to that as well.

Finally, let’s go back to the phase-out of nuclear weapons and the energy transition. Do you look to the future with confidence or anxiety?

So I am a very optimistic person. I look to the future with great confidence. I can also see that a lot of people have revitalized themselves in the last year in particular. I see it in individuals, I see it in municipalities and companies. In that regard, I am in such good spirits that we will continue to achieve it in some way.