Bavarian premier Söder wants mini nuclear power plants in Germany

The premier of the southern German state of Bavaria is calling for a comprehensive change of course in Germany's energy policy – including the construction of new nuclear power plants.

"It's not about building large reactors like in the past. I'm talking about smaller, smart reactors, such as those already in use in Canada," Markus Söder told the Sunday edition of the Welt newspaper.

Söder said the state would not have to subsidize such "mini reactors" with as much money as it did previous plants.

According to the Canadian government, such reactors do not yet exist in Canada. So far, only preparatory work is underway in the Ontario region, with the aim of launching the first reactor by around 2030.

Söder is the leader of Bavaria's conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party, the sister party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

In recent years, he has repeatedly spoken out against Germany's phase-out of nuclear power, completed in 2023. However, even the former operators of nuclear reactors agree that nuclear power is the most expensive form of electricity generation.

Söder emphasized that he, too, is against state subsidies for energy production. "We want to build gas-fired power plants and expand renewable energies, but we overlook the fact that all of this is highly subsidized. We are pushing down energy prices with state money instead of focusing on cheap production." 

He called once again for the gas reserves in northern Germany to be exploited to help meet the country's energy needs.

Serious consideration must also be given to whether the mining of rare earths in Germany is worthwhile, he said.