Ethics committee for a secure energy supply

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The ethics committee for a secure energy supply was set up on March 22, 2011 by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to examine technical and ethical aspects of nuclear energy, to prepare a social consensus on the nuclear phase-out and to develop proposals for the transition to renewable energies .

The reason for this was the nuclear disaster in Fukushima that began on March 11, 2011 , to which the Chancellor reacted on March 14 with a three-month nuclear moratorium for the seven oldest German nuclear power plants.

task

The ethics committee complements the Reactor Safety Commission (RSK), which is to review the safety of all 17 German nuclear power plants according to new standards from March 15 to June 15, 2011 . Its task is to ethically and socially assess the technical risks of nuclear energy, which the RSK determines, and to weigh them against the risks of an earlier nuclear phase-out and the risks and side effects of other forms of energy. It is intended to contribute to the desired “social consensus”.

Merkel formulated the question for the commission:

“How can I make the exit with a sense of proportion so that the transition into the age of renewable energies is a practicable, sensible one, and how can I avoid, for example, taking risks by importing nuclear energy into Germany that might be higher are to be assessed as the risks in the production of nuclear power in the country? "

The commission should allow "a more detailed approach to the handling of risks" than a purely technical safety review. The Federal Environment Minister at the time, Norbert Röttgen, justified this with the fact that "security cannot be calculated, but is ultimately a socio-political evaluation."

Merkel emphasized that the commission should not replace the discussion with all social groups that should be held after the conclusion and publication of its results.

Before the first meeting, she added to her expectation of the commission to explore a “coherent energy transition” on renewable energies without ignoring “possible conflicting goals, for example in the area of ​​climate protection”. To this end, the RSK should submit a report by around May 16 and the ethics committee by May 27, 2011. On this basis, the federal government will then decide on the shutdown and operating times of the 17 nuclear power plants.

Members

The 17-person commission is headed by:

Merkel appointed additional members

Six members of the commission are or were also active in other bodies appointed by the Federal Chancellor or the Environment Minister:

Single items

The members are known for different attitudes towards nuclear energy.

After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, Töpfer, as Rhineland-Palatinate Minister for Environment and Health, said: "Yes, I am sure that a major accident that can be assumed cannot occur in a German nuclear power plant." Before the first commission meeting in 2011, he spoke publicly for the permanent shutdown of the seven older German nuclear power plants. This can be done immediately without endangering the power supply. All other German nuclear power plants could also be switched off earlier and the transition to renewable energies accelerated.

Ulrich Fischer described an immediate exit as a "hypocritical position", since then only nuclear power would be imported from abroad.

Jürgen Hambrecht signed the Energy Policy Appeal in 2010 before the lifetime of German nuclear power plants was extended , claiming that Germany could not do without the use of nuclear energy and coal.

Ortwin Renn takes the following opinion: There can be no zero risk with large-scale systems. The risks involved in using coal, biomass, hydropower, wind energy, solar energy and nuclear energy can be weighed against one another, although they are different. The judgment of the acceptability is based on a comparative weighing of the expected consequences of all available options on the basis of scientific facts and jointly agreed (ethically sound) criteria. If one carries out this consideration in the context of the current situation in Germany, one can understandably justify the fact that nuclear power plants can be replaced by lower-risk methods of energy generation, especially renewable energies. Measures to improve energy efficiency also perform better when weighing up the risks. If the goals of climate protection and occupational health and safety in coal mining are strictly adhered to, this also applies to fossil fuels, but only then.

Reinhard Marx called atomic energy “untrustworthy” because of its incalculable consequences for entire generations. It is about "goods that we must not leave the market". He recommended a faster exit. If electricity prices then grow, one has to think about aid for poorer citizens.

Alois Glück stated in an interview that he had already refused to make himself dependent on nuclear energy since 1986. The Fukushima nuclear disaster made the limits of feasibility clear, forced an alternative but patient energy policy and, like the financial crisis, showed: "We are losing control of developments that were considered controllable yesterday." The current western lifestyle is not sustainable.

Fischer and Glück emphasized the biblical commandment to preserve creation , from which the commitment of Christians to ecological resource consumption, an energy-saving lifestyle and the lowest possible risk of energy generation result. They emphasized the role of the churches in conveying ethical values ​​and did not expect any difference between the Catholic and Protestant positions on nuclear energy.

To meet

The commission met for the first time on April 4, 2011. Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel , Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen and Federal Minister of Economics Rainer Brüderle took part in the opening meeting at the Federal Chancellery in Berlin . Merkel spoke out in favor of public deliberations of the body.

A three-day retreat at Liebenberg Castle near Berlin ended on April 21, 2011.

On April 28, the Commission organized a public hearing in Berlin, which was broadcast on television and on the Internet. The following 28 experts and association representatives took part:

The environmental organization. Broadcast followed the eleven-hour public meeting and commented on it from the point of view of a short-term exit from nuclear energy and an energy transition with decentralized structures with a “live ticker for the ethics committee”. The résumé of .ausgestrachte is: "... and in large parts it turned into a show by the nuclear supporters".

Further retreats took place from May 13th to 15th, 2011 and at the end of the month. On May 30, 2011, the ethics committee presented its final report.

criticism

The establishment, tasks and composition of the commission met with various criticisms.

Environmental associations immediately rejected the commission as superfluous, as the nuclear phase-out was already a social consensus. For Deutsche Umwelthilfe , the "question of the ethical responsibility of nuclear energy [...] with Fukushima is finally answered".

The Federal Association for Renewable Energy stated that instead of nuclear power, “reliable technologies that can replace them sustainably and at affordable prices” are needed.

The also invited Ralf Fücks (Greens), chairman of the Heinrich Böll Foundation , declined to participate: The state elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate were a clear vote for an accelerated nuclear phase-out. This must be the starting point for a new nuclear consensus . The Chancellor must therefore seek a non-partisan understanding with the opposition and the Federal Council . There were no representatives of the environmental associations and the anti-nuclear power movement in the commission , without whom no consensus could be reached.

Bärbel Höhn (Greens) rated the commission as a tactical measure to save time. Merkel has also appointed “absolute advocates of nuclear power” whose “potential for blockade” does not mean that serious results can be expected.

The Hannoversche Allgemeine noted that some of the 16 members were close to the nuclear industry and asked:

"Why weren't the 17 German nuclear power plants checked before the decision to run them? Even then, an ethics committee could have clarified whether the increase in running time would make it worthwhile to revive a major social conflict. "

The safety deficiencies were known long before the accidents in Japan; a thorough security check could hardly succeed by June 15.

Others believe that Merkel did not invite a representative from the energy industry to the commission.

CDU / CSU members of the Bundestag complained that no active specialist politicians from the governing parties were represented in the commission. A working group on the future of nuclear energy was therefore founded. Union parliamentary group leader Volker Kauder (CDU), CSU regional group chairman Gerda Hasselfeldt and FDP parliamentary group leader Birgit Homburger took over the leadership . Several prominent proponents of atomic energy belong to the coalition working group, for example the CDU economic politicians Michael Fuchs and Joachim Pfeiffer and the CDU environmental expert Marie-Luise Dött .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reactor safety and ethics: two commissions guide you into the age of renewable energies. Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, March 29, 2011, archived from the original on April 9, 2011 ; Retrieved April 28, 2011 .
  2. ↑ Ethics committee established for secure energy supply. Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, March 22, 2011, archived from the original on October 22, 2013 ; Retrieved April 28, 2011 .
  3. ↑ Transcript of the press conference: Press statements by Federal Chancellor Merkel, Federal Economics Minister Brüderle and Federal Environment Minister Röttgen on the use of nuclear energy in Germany. Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, March 22, 2011, archived from the original on October 22, 2013 ; Retrieved April 28, 2011 .
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Suckert: Government has the transition to new energies accompanied by the Ethics Council. In: Thuringian General. March 23, 2011, accessed March 23, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Ethics committee starts work: 60 days for the future of nuclear power. In: Tagesschau.de. April 4, 2011, accessed April 28, 2011 .
  6. ^ Mannheimer Morgen, September 17, 1986, quoted in: Gerhard Strauss, Ulrike Haß, Gisela Harras: Controversial words from agitation to zeitgeist . W. de Gruyter, 1989, ISBN 3-11-012078-X , p. 474 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  7. ↑ Chancellor advisor Klaus Töpfer: Merkel's atomic oracle. Handelsblatt, March 22, 2011, accessed on May 1, 2011 .
  8. ↑ Merkel wants to have a say in the ethics committee. In: evangelisch.de. April 1, 2011, accessed May 1, 2011 .
  9. ↑ Rainer Wehaus: risk researcher race: "Rather falls a meteorite in Germany". In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten. April 4, 2011, accessed May 1, 2011 .
  10. ↑ Cardinal against nuclear energy: Marx for a quick departure from atomic energy. In: Munich evening newspaper. April 2, 2011, accessed May 1, 2011 .
  11. ↑ Christoph Renzikowski: "There is no simple solution". Alois Glück at the beginning of the work of the Atomic Ethics Committee. In: domradio.de. April 3, 2011, accessed May 1, 2011 .
  12. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 4, 2011: Ethics Committee on Nuclear Policy: "A Biblical Commandment"
  13. ^ Mission turning maneuver on domradio.de April 4, 2011
  14. ↑ Ethics committee closed meeting on bundesregierung.de
  15. ↑ A joint project for the future ( Memento from May 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) presented by the Ethics Commission on Safe Energy Supply, Berlin, May 30, 2011 on bundesregierung.de (PDF)
  16. ↑ DUH press release, March 23, 2011
  17. ↑ Karsten Kammholz, Christian Unger (Hamburger Abendblatt, March 23, 2011): The Chancellor seeks advice
  18. ↑ Heinrich Böll Foundation, March 27, 2011: Statement by Ralf Fücks on the invitation to participate in the Atomic Energy Commission
  19. ↑ LVZ: Green parliamentary group Vice Höhn (Leipziger Volkszeitung, March 23, 2011): Merkel only uses “actionism”, “staging” and “false claims” when it comes to nuclear policy ( Memento from March 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  20. ^ Hannoversche Allgemeine, March 22, 2011: Angela Merkel seeks advice on the atomic dilemma
  21. ↑ Björn Hengst: Merkel's Subcontractor for Morals , Spiegel Online, March 23, 2011.
  22. ↑ Birgit Böhret: Energy policy is being discussed for the first time ( memento of February 8, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), VDI nachrichten, March 25, 2011
  23. ↑ Black and yellow economic wing complains about hasty nuclear decisions ( Memento from September 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  24. ↑ Debate about phasing out nuclear power: Union and FDP set up their own working group on the energy transition. Financial Times Deutschland, April 4, 2011, archived from the original on April 5, 2011 ; Retrieved May 3, 2011 .