Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

THE END of 2021 brought mixed news for Germany’s anti-nuclear crowd. On December 6th the gaggle of activists who had gathered outside the Brokdorf nuclear plant, in northern Germany, every month for the 36 years it had operated swapped their usual thermoses for champagne. For on December 31st Brokdorf, the construction of which had inspired some of the roughest protests in German history, was one of three nuclear plants switched off for good. The remaining three will be closed down by the end of this year, concluding a nuclear exit two decades in the making.