No industrialized nations without nuclear energy

Germany has made great strides in wind and solar energy in recent years. But if we think that's enough, we're mistaken. We still have a lot more to do. Renewable energies are crucial, but they alone will not carry us into the future. This also includes nuclear energy and massive investment in nuclear fusion.

We are at the dawn of a new era that can be described as the age of energy. Every era over the past decades had its leitmotif. First, it was the age of the computer, then the age of the internet. Now we are entering a phase in which everything will be decided by how much affordable, reliable and, in the best case, virtually infinite energy a country can secure. Energy is the key to tomorrow's prosperity. It is the absolute basis for economic success, industrial strength and technological leadership.

However, Germany and Austria still treat nuclear energy as a taboo subject. Any debate immediately becomes ideologically charged instead of being conducted rationally. Yet it is not a question of ideology, but rather one of physics, costs and time. Without nuclear energy, Germany has no chance of remaining a leading industrial nation.

At the Springer CEO Roundtable in Berlin, as part of the Springer Awards, I spoke with Sam Altman at length about this. For me, it was one of the key points of the evening. It was also clear to the other CEOs at the table that energy is a highly contentious issue in Germany. Everyone agreed that future technologies such as artificial intelligence, chips and data centers can only function on one basis: affordable and reliable energy. This is precisely where our biggest problem lies.

The dimensions

The global electricity demand of data centers will double to around 1,000 terawatt hours by 2030 and could exceed 1,300 terawatt hours by 2035. That is more than Japan consumes over an entire year. In the US, scenarios for 2030 predict up to 1,050 terawatt hours for data centers alone – more than Turkey currently consumes in total.

The planned Stargate campuses from OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank will consume between five and ten gigawatts per location. That is equivalent to seven to ten modern nuclear power plants for a single project. A single data center can consume as much energy as millions of households or an entire medium-sized industrial nation.

Germany produces between 550 and 600 terawatt hours of electricity annually. That is barely enough to meet our own needs, and often not even that, which is why we are a net importer. Soon, individual hyperscale campuses in the US will consume a double-digit percentage of what the whole of Germany generates in a year.

China marches on, we stumble

While Germany is still debating nuclear energy, China is building at record speed. Between January and May 2024 alone, 198 gigawatts of solar and 46 gigawatts of wind power were connected to the grid – as much as the annual consumption of Indonesia or Turkey. At the same time, China is investing heavily in nuclear power and fusion.

Germany, on the other hand, is pushing the envelope. In 2024, 56 to 60 percent of electricity came from renewable sources, yet we were once again a net importer. Industrial electricity prices are significantly higher than in the US. Companies are relocating or scaling back their production. German industry is suffering because we got off to a bad start as we entered the energy age. This is a key reason for the recession and the weakness of our manufacturing economy.

New culture of debate

We need to get rid of ideological blinders. It is not a matter of pitting wind and solar against nuclear energy. We need both. Renewables provide affordable kilowatt-hours when the sun shines and the wind blows. Nuclear energy provides reliable kilowatts around the clock. Modern reactors are safer and more efficient than anything built in the 1980s. Sweden is building the world's first final repository in Forsmark, which will safely store fuel elements for 100,000 years. A problem that was considered unsolvable for decades now has a viable solution.

France, our direct neighbor, has long been a pioneer in this field. Research and construction of new reactors are underway there, as is fusion. In February 2024, the French West reactor set a world record: Plasma was maintained in a stable state for 22 minutes. Almost simultaneously, China reported 18 minutes in the East reactor. What long sounded like science fiction is now coming closer to reality. If a breakthrough is achieved, we would have an almost infinite clean energy source with marginal costs close to zero.

From crisis to opportunity

Yes, we have made mistakes. We have the highest energy prices in the world and have pursued the wrong policies for years. You can lament that fact—or you can accept reality and learn from it. The latter is the only way forward. But that means we now have to invest twice or three times as much.

We will continue to experience a lean period for years to come. But that is precisely why we need to make big bets on the future. Venture bets, as they say in Silicon Valley. We must invest heavily in nuclear fusion research and development, as well as in the construction of modern nuclear power plants and the facilitation of small modular reactors. SMRs are small, modular reactors that are manufactured in factories and then installed on site. They are quicker to build, more flexible in their application, and particularly interesting for private projects such as data centers or large industrial plants that need independent, reliable energy. In the United States, SMRs are already being promoted by companies such as NuScale and TerraPower because they can supply predictable, clean energy directly to private locations. Germany should also seriously consider this option.

The appeal

Germany needs to stop playing catch-up in politics. We need courage, vision and the will to speak uncomfortable truths. Nuclear energy is not a relic of the past, but a key technology of the future. If we act now, we can turn the current weakness into a long-term advantage: a decade of investment and discipline, and then a leading role in the world once again. Nuclear energy and renewables now. Fusion tomorrow.