Stichting Laka: Documentatie- en onderzoekscentrum kernenergie De Laka-bibliotheek The Laka-library Dit is een pdf van één van de publicaties in This is a PDF from one of the publications de bibliotheek van Stichting Laka, het in from the library of the Laka Foundation; the Amsterdam gevestigde documentatie- en Amsterdam-based documentation and onderzoekscentrum kernenergie. research centre on nuclear energy. Laka heeft een bibliotheek met ongeveer The Laka library consists of about 8,000 8000 boeken (waarvan een gedeelte dus ook books (of which a part is available as PDF), als pdf), duizenden kranten- en tijdschriften- thousands of newspaper clippings, hundreds artikelen, honderden tijdschriftentitels, of magazines, posters, video's and other posters, video’s en ander beeldmateriaal. material. Laka digitaliseert (oude) tijdschriften en Laka digitizes books and magazines from the boeken uit de internationale antikernenergie- international movement against nuclear beweging. power. De catalogus van de Laka-bibliotheek staat The catalogue of the Laka-library can be op onze site. De collectie bevat een grote found at our website. The collection also verzameling gedigitaliseerde tijdschriften uit contains a large number of digitized de Nederlandse antikernenergie-beweging en magazines from the Dutch anti-nuclear power een verzameling video's. movement and a video-section. Laka speelt met oa. haar informatie- Laka plays with, amongst others things, its voorziening een belangrijke rol in de information services, an important role in the Nederlandse anti-kernenergiebeweging. Dutch anti-nuclear movement. Appreciate our work? Feel free to make a small donation. Thank you. www.laka.org | [email protected] | Ketelhuisplein 43, 1054 RD Amsterdam | 020-6168294 Studies 4 Astrid Mignon Kirchhof (ed.) Pathways into and out of Nuclear Power in Western Europe Austria, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, and Sweden Pathways into and out of Nuclear Power in Western Europe: Austria, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, and Sweden Deutsches Museum Studies Edited by Eva Bunge, Frank Dittmann, Ulf Hashagen, Marisa Pamplona-Bartsch, Matthias Röschner, Helmuth Trischler Volume 4 Astrid Mignon Kirchhof (ed.) Pathways into and out of Nuclear Power in Western Europe Austria, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, and Sweden Model of a uranium atom 1957 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet unter http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. Astrid Mignon Kirchhof, “Pathways into and out of Nuclear Power in Western Europe: Austria, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, and Sweden” 1st Edition © Deutsches Museum Verlag, 2020 All rights reserved Editing: Andrea Lucas Layout and Design: Jutta Esser Cover illustrations: Günter Zint, private archive; Cornelia Blomeyer, private archive Printing and binding: Wenzel GmbH, Munich ISSN 2365-9149 ISBN 978-3-940396-92-1 Content 7 Astrid Mignon Kirchhof Pathways into and out of Nuclear Power in Western Europe: An Introduction 36 Christian Forstner The Failure of Nuclear Energy in Austria: Austria’s Nuclear Energy Programmes in Historical Perspective 74 Jan-Henrik Meyer “Atomkraft – Nej tak”. How Denmark did not Introduce Commercial Nuclear Power Plants 124 Astrid Mignon Kirchhof / Helmuth Trischler The History behind West Germany’s Nuclear Phase-Out 170 Matteo Gerlini The Rise and Fall of Nuclear Italy 238 Arne Kaijser The Referendum that Preserved Nuclear Power and Five Other Critical Events in the History of Nuclear Power in Sweden Appendix 294 List of Figures 295 Index 298 List of Authors 6 Pathways into and out of Nuclear Power in Western Europe 7 Astrid Mignon Kirchhof Pathways into and out of Nuclear Power in Western Europe: An Introduction This study examines five European countries from the period after the Second World War until the present day and asks how consistent or deviating from each other the political, economic, and cultural conditions of nuclear energy politics in these countries have been.1 The cases selected – Austria, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Italy, and Sweden – represent a sample of nation states located in the north, centre, and south of Europe, with a set of decisive similarities, but also differences. All the countries chosen for the study are demo­ cracies with a market­oriented economy and a strong civil society that in some cases more than others developed only over time. They have all taken journeys from optimistic interest to national decisions to phase out the use of nuclear power, even if there were differences in their progress. Thus, the set was chosen to compare their pathways into and out of nuclear power. West European countries such as France and Britain and East European countries such as Russia which nowa days invest in a new generation of nuclear power stations have not been selected for this volume. Also, countries with a former dictatorship or a socialist/ communist political system and a planned economy are missing in this sample. Of interest were liberal market economies with a commitment to economic accumulation. Assuming that freedom of speech is a necessary condition for a more effective protection of the environment, a further selection criteria for this volume was whether or not democratic societal debates were possible. Even though environmental movements are not always successful, they seem to be a precondition to more effectively criticize environmental exploitation and initiate the necessary changes in politics to cope with environmental degradation. In the 1950s and 60s, in all five countries, there was widespread trust in tech­ nological progress among public servants, politicians, experts, and the media, which led to the first nuclear research programmes, centres, and reactors. The euphoric attitude towards civil nuclear power was transnationally inspired and influenced by an international effort, initiated by the USA, to pursue peaceful uses of atomic energy instead of warlike purposes. Critical voices against military and/ or civilian uses were raised at a national level, often among scientists, but it was only in later decades that wider transnational, societal coalitions of critical citizens, media, parliaments, and scientists, as well as institutions were built, which went on to inspire each other. 1 This project has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014–2018 under grant agreement no 662268. 8 Astrid Mignon Kirchhof In terms of the civilian use of nuclear energy, all countries under examination here took slightly different but not incompatible trajectories. In all countries, nuclear power was controversially discussed since the 1970s, if not earlier, and in each of these countries these debates culminated in a political decision – often by referen­ dum – on the use of nuclear energy: Austria built a nuclear power plant, but after a national referendum in 1978 that was also inspired by anti­nuclear protests in other countries, the reactor never went on the grid. Two years after the Austrian plebiscite, and inspired by it, in 1980, Sweden also held a referendum and about 40 % of the Swedish electorate voted for the immediate phasing out of nuclear energy. The Swedish government won the popular vote with its proposal to stay with nuclear energy production for the time being and phase it out in the far­off future. After intense societal debates and a parliamentary decision in 1985, Den­ mark decided against nuclear power altogether, and the country continued to rely entirely on fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. Italy held a referendum in 1987, which was triggered by the Chernobyl accident the year before, and phased out nuclear power afterwards. The German parliament, in 1998, also decided to phase out in 20 years’ time, but without a plebiscite. While Austria, Denmark, and Italy have either phased out nuclear energy or never decided to adopt it in the first place, Sweden and Germany are still in the process of phasing out. This introduction will give an overview on the most pertinent parallels and discrepancies in energy policies and politics and societal perceptions of nuclear power in the respective countries. The main part of the book consists of five country reports that deal with nuclear energy and societal interactions in Austria, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, and Sweden. The reports present parts of the results of the three year interdisciplinary project “History of Nuclear Energy and Society (HoNESt)” conducted by 24 partners in 15 European states and the US being coordinated by the university Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.2 The project brought together humanities scholars, especially historians, and social scientists.3 The aim was to ensure that despite the diversity of historical narratives a consistent form was used that allowed to compare the different developments of national nuclear energy politics over the last 60 years. The reports were brought into a readable chapter­like form (hereinafter referred to as chapter. The national studies, so called short country reports, thus followed a coherent framework struc­ ture as can be seen next page: 2 All country reports can be downloaded via the link http://www.honest2020.eu/d36-short-country- reports. Although the volume’s chapter are the result of investigations of the HoNESt project, the content of this volume is the exclusive responsibility