Bavaria’s Minister President Markus Söder (CSU) has urged the state to build modern “mini‑nuclear” power plants. The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from the Greens and the SPD.
Julia Verlinden, deputy chair of the Greens’ parliamentary group, called the plan in a recent Monday issue of the “Rheinische Post” “a particularly expensive and risky technology that solves no problems but creates new ones”. She added that the answer for energy sovereignty, reliability, local value creation and affordable electricity is already known: renewable energies. “Renewables are the most popular energy source in Bavaria and could immediately contribute more to the energy supply” Verlinden said.
The SPD, for its part, refuses to support Söder’s position. Nina Scheer, the party’s energy policy spokeswoman in the Bundestag, branded the proposals “absurd”. She told the “Rheinische Post” that a return to nuclear energy would violate German law, and the SPD will not participate in any “ghost‑legislation” that would revive the industry. Scheer explained that nuclear power is the most expensive form of energy generation and can only be feasible through massive state subsidies-direct and indirect. “Regardless of plant size, it remains a high‑risk technology. With escalating military tensions worldwide, nuclear plans are also a security‑policy nightmare” she said.
According to Scheer, small reactors are even riskier than large ones because they require safety measures at more sites and produce multiple times more nuclear waste. She argued that they are neither operationally nor economically viable today, and that such projects are not resource‑oriented. Scheer noted that pilot projects for small nuclear plants in the United States have been cancelled due to high costs and construction delays. “Renewables are already the cheapest form of energy generation” she reminded.
Söder had previously reaffirmed his long‑standing view that Germany must return to nuclear power in an interview with “Bild am Sonntag” (the Sunday edition).
