Britta Kellermann has seen the Grohnde nuclear power plant countless times.

But only in the new year will she see the kiln behind the high fence as she wished.

Then the nuclear power plant in the Hameln-Pyrmont district will go offline.

Germany is saying goodbye to nuclear energy a little more, and by the end of next year it will be all over.

Kellermann protested, demonstrated and held vigils.

Now the turn of the year fulfills the wish and at the same time brings with it a lot of question marks.

What happens during dismantling?

How and where can the radioactive material be stored?

And what about the repository?

Jan Hauser

Editor in business.

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However, Stephan Stallmann sees completely different question marks. He is not concerned about the security of nuclear power in the region, but about energy security in the country. Do climate-damaging coal-fired power plants have to compensate for what nuclear energy has so far brought? Is there more electricity coming from abroad? And will energy costs continue to rise?

For Britta Kellermann, born in 1979, the answer is: the expansion of renewable energies. She was always against nuclear energy, joined the anti-nuclear movement in 2009, joined the Greens two years later and moved to the district council. To talk about it, she invited people to the Green Shop in Hameln, the district office on Wendestrasse - like the energy transition, she said on the phone. In the office there is a green frog on the table, election brochures are on display. At the back there is a yellow barrel with a black Atom logo, on which they drummed loudly during their protests.

The end of nuclear power in Germany was ten years ago. Back in 2011, Kellermann and her colleagues were planning a day of action to mark the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl. Then on March 11th the earthquake and core meltdown hit Japan. "In the evening I go to bed with the news that there is something in Fukushima, and in the morning I turn on the TV first," she says today. That went deep under the skin. At the vigil in Hameln she stands with more than a hundred people in the evening: “It happened to many that we felt powerless.” Shortly afterwards, Kellermann spoke in front of the Grohnde nuclear power plant. It was one of the biggest demos she helped organize, with 20,000 attendees.

After Fukushima, more people are turning away from nuclear power - including politics with Chancellor Angela Merkel. The federal government had just recently extended the life of the nuclear power plants, now it is rowing back and deciding to end all nuclear power plants in Germany. This now has consequences: At the turn of the year, Grohnde and two other nuclear power plants will go offline, the three remaining reactors will follow in a year. The issue seems to be settled in Germany.

Stephan Stallmann, born in 1974, would like to avert the end.

The managing director of a medium-sized roofing company in Emmerthal first takes care of a customer, then he has time to talk about what, in his opinion, is Germany's biggest mistake in energy policy: "Electricity prices are already exploding - and that becomes much more extreme when nuclear power plants are shut down and coal-fired power plants be switched off. "