What did the poll say about nuclear power?
Beyond the 55% in favor, 36% said they opposed a return to nuclear energy and 9% were undecided.
More than six in ten men favored a return, while less than half of women did.
There were geographical differences, with the idea more popular in southern and eastern Germany than in the north and west.
A total of 22% said only the most recently shuttered reactors should go back online, and 32% said new reactors should be built.
The survey found 57% of respondents in favor of continued investment in other forms of renewable energy, with only 17% opposed and the rest undecided.
The pollsters, Dusseldorf-based Innofact, questioned 1,007 Germans in March 2025 and garnered responses from individuals aged 18-to-79. The poll was published on the website of Verivox, which offers consumer information, mainly regarding energy, telephone and insurance prices.
What might the new government do?
At the moment, the CDU/CSU is looking into “whether a return to service for the most recently decommissioned nuclear reactors would be technically and financially feasible considering their current individual state.”
The SPD says it is not interested in getting nuclear power plants back online.
The Greens, too, spoke out against a reversal of policy. Party co-chair Franziska Brantner recently told the television show Welt, “We’re on a good track, it would be best for our country and our businesses if we would steadfastly continue along that path without flip-flopping every couple of weeks.”
That back-and-forth has a history, with Gerhard Schröder’s SPD-Green coalition deciding to phase out nuclear energy back in 1998, but Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU/FDP government extending their lifetime considerably in 2009.
One major U-turn was initiated by Merkel herself, who, in a surprise move, reversed policy in the immediate aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster in Japan, speeding up the phase-out.
After having their operations temporarily extended by Olaf Scholz’s SPD/Green/FDP coalition government, Germany’s last nuclear power plants were taken offline in early 2023.
Source: DW
