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Colin Hunt's avatar

Good commentary here, Zion. I agree with all of it. But it's not quite complete. There is another much grimmer aspect to all this.

For all of its history since 1945, Germany was on the front line of the Cold War conflict between NATO and the USSR. This meant that Germany was likely to experience the first use of nuclear weapons if the Cold War ever turned into an active war. Over the eight decades since WW2, this understandably would have traumatized the German population about nuclear technology. The difference between nuclear power and military use of nuclear technology has never been clearly explained to the general public.

Second, the Soviet Union had a strong incentive to corroding German use of nuclear power generation. The USSR produced nothing that Western economies wanted. Except oil and gas. There was a huge demand for oil and gas in Germany if the alternative (nuclear power) could be discouraged or shut down. This was a principal project of the KGB starting in the 1960s. Its success was the principal reason why Yuri Andropov was chosen to succeed Leonid Brezhnev in 1982.

Andropov's program included extensive work in supporting an assortment of antinuclear groups and political causes. So to some degree, German antinuclearism is at least in part an artifact of Soviet political interference in a NATO front line state during the Cold War. The fact that the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 in no way diminishes the strength of this effect.

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HansPeter Beck's avatar

Thank you, Zion, for refreshing my memory on how fears of radiation have been pushed higher and higher in Germany.

Another example, not just in Germany but worldwide, is the HBO mini-series Chernobyl that lives from pushing radiation fears high and higher.

From a historical and physics perspective, this series was very well made. However—and this however is a big one—all aspects of radiation damages were extremely exaggerated and in most cases pure nonsense.

You may be interested in Dr. Shapiro assessment. Shapiro holds both a medical degree and a PhD from Kiev, Ukraine. In 1986, when Chernobyl happened, she was one of the first medical responders sent to the most radiation-contaminated areas of Chernobyl and led the field team surveying the medical effects on children in the vicinity.

You can see her assessment about the HBO mini-series on YouTube, where she clearly states where and how complete nonsensical exaggeration were made by the producers of the mini-series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1GEPsSVpZY

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