Abstract
The development of nuclear energy in Germany has a long and twisted history. It was not until ten years after the Second World War that a programme of nuclear research was initiated (or rather, re-installed) in the country where the fission of atomic nuclei had first been discovered in 1938. When the Federal Republic of Germany attained sovereignty in 1955, it was lagging far behind many countries in its capacity for the scientific and industrial utilization of nuclear energy. Two decades later West Germany’s nuclear programme ranked among the most ambitious and the West German nuclear industry among the most expansive in the world. Half a decade later again, the industry stood at the brink of collapse and the country’s nuclear programme had ground almost to a standstill.
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Notes
For a concise well-documented analysis of the early phase of nuclear energy development see Otto Keck, “Government Policy and Technical Choice in the West German Reactor Programme”, Research Policy, 9 (1980) pp. 302–56.
Hans Michaelis, Kernenergie ( Munich: DTV, 1977 ) pp. 188–9.
See Herbert Kitschelt, Kernenergiepolitik — Arena eines gesellschaftlichen Konflikts ( Frankfurt: Campus, 1980 ).
The immediate employment effect resulting from construction of a 1300 MW light water reactor nuclear power plant in Germany has been estimated in the range of 35,000 man years; see Martin Bald, “Beschäftigungseffekte durch Bau und Betrieb von Kraftwerken”, Atomwirtschaft-Atomtechnik, 22 (1977) pp. 518–19.
O.H. Schiele, “Die Situation der kerntechnischen Industrie in der Bundesrepublik”, Atomwirtschaft-Atomtechnik, 25 (1980) pp. 434–9; “Die Kraftwerk Union muß die Kapazitäten kürzen”, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 12 Mar. 1981.
see also Klaus Eller and Jürgen Wiemann, Schwerpunktländer in der Dritten Welt: Konsequenzen für die Südbeziehungen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Berlin: Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, 1981).
Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, “Iran’s Nuclear Power Programme Revisited”, Energy Policy, 8 (1980) pp. 189–202.
Kurt Rudolf Mirow, Das Atomgeschäft mit Brasilien - Ein Milliardenfiasko ( Frankfurt: Campus, 1980 );
Hartmut Krugmann, “The German-Brazilian Nuclear Deal”, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 37 (Feb. 1981) pp. 32–6.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 7 May 1981; see also Rüdiger Hossner, “Brasilienabkommen - Quo Vadis?”, Atomwirtschaft-Atomtechnik 26 (1981) pp. 314–15.
See Günter Fahl, “Zum argentinisch-brasilianischen Kernenergieabkommen von 1980”, Atomwirtschaft-Atomtechnik, 25 (1980) pp. 623–4.
For assessments of nuclear sales prospects see W. Bohmann and O. Fickel, “Der Kernkraftwerksmarkt mit Leichtwasserreaktoren in den 70er und 80er Jahren”, Atomwirtschaft Atomtechnik, 26 (1981) pp. 19–26;
Irwin C. Bupp, “The Actual Growth and Probable Future of the Worldwide Nuclear Industry”, International Organization, 35 (1981) pp. 59–75.
Mans Lönnroth and William Walker, The Viability of the Civil Nuclear Industry, ICGNE Working Paper ( New York and London: Rockefeller Foundation and Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1979 ).
Hans-Hilger Haunschild, “Technologietransfer im Bereich der Kernenergie: Eine gemeinsame Aufgabe von Staat, Wirtschaft und Wissenchaft”, Atomwirtschaft-Atomtechnik, 22 (1977) pp. 66–8.
Cf. Steven J. Baker, “Export atomarer Energie - auch ein Handel mit Waffen?”, Technologie und Politik, 4 (1976) pp. 86–103.
Hans Frewer, “Aufgaben und Probleme beim nuklearen Technologietransfer”, Atomwirtschaft Atomtechnik, 22 (1977) pp. 412–18.
See, e.g., Norman Gall, “Atoms for Brazil, Dangers for All”, Foreign Policy, no. 23 (1976) pp. 155–201.
Jorge Sabato and Jairam Ramesh, “Atoms for the Third World”, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 36 (Mar. 1980) pp. 36–43.
For an authoritative view from a KWU manager see Günter Hildenbrand, “Nuklearexport, Technologietransfer und Nichtverbreitung von Kernsprengkörpern”, Sicherheitsüberwachung und Nichtverbreitung ( Bonn: Deutsches Atomforum, 1979 ) pp. 170–87.
Gerhard Meyer-Wöbse, Rechtsfragen des Exports von Kernanlagen in Nichtkernwaffenstaaten ( Cologne: Heymanns, 1979 ).
For the background and evolution of German-American dissent over nuclear export policy see Karl Kaiser, “Auf der Suche nach einer Weltnuklearordnung: Zum Hintergrund deutschamerikanischer Divergenzen”, Europa-Archiv, 33 (1978) pp. 153–72;
Helga Haftendorn, The Nuclear Triangle: Washington, Bonn and Brasilia - National Nuclear Policies and International Proliferation, Occasional Paper no. 2 ( Washington: Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 1978 ).
For this view see, e.g., Lothar Wilker, “Nuklearexport — und Nichtverbreitungspolitik — ein Prioritätenkonflikt für die Bundes-republik?”, Nuklearpolitik im Zielkonflikt: Verbreitung der Kernenergie zwischen nationalem Interesse und internationaler Kontrolle, ed. Lothar Wilker ( Cologne: Wissenschaft und Politik, 1980 ) pp. 77–105;
Harald Müller, Energie-politik, Nuklearexport und die Weiterverbreitung von Kernwaffen: Analyse und Dokumentation ( Frankfurt: Haag & Herchen, 1978 ).
Heinz Dittmann, “Die Nichtverbreitungspolitik der Bundesregierung”, Sicherheitsüberwachung und Nichtverbreitung (Bonn: Deutsches Atomforum, 1979) pp. 157–69. The author, a long-time department head in the German foreign office, carried primary responsibility for the formulation of the Federal Government’s non-proliferation policy in the 1970s.
See the statements by Paulo Nogueiro Batista and Carlos Castro Madero, presidents of the nuclear energy establishments of Brazil and Argentina, in Reconciling Energy Needs and Non-Proliferation ed. Karl Kaiser (Bonn: Europa Union, 1980) pp. 55–9 and 175–7.
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© 1983 Robert Boardman and James F. Keeley
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Häckel, E. (1983). The Politics of Nuclear Exports in West Germany. In: Boardman, R., Keeley, J.F. (eds) Nuclear Exports and World Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05984-3_4
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