Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected calls for a return to nuclear power in Germany, pointing to high costs and long construction times.
"If someone decides to build a nuclear power plant now, it will be ready in 15 to 20 years based on current construction times. We must have solved all our problems by then," Scholz said in response to a question from a pupil during a question-and-answer session at a vocational school centre in southern Germany.
The electricity that comes from nuclear power plants costs many times more than electricity from wind power, solar energy or other production sources, said Scholz.
In addition, uranium reserves are finite. "If you look back in 20 years' time and see who made the cheaper and more efficient decision to produce electricity, it will be our country," the German chancellor predicted.
In the draft of its new policy programme, the Christian Democratic union (CDU) - Germany's conservative opposition party - advocates the use of nuclear power, and wants to focus on "fourth and fifth generation nuclear power plants."
