Why Germany Quit Nuclear Power
When the Fukushima disaster happened, germany was ruled by a center-right coalition out of the conservative CDU and the liberal FDP. Only half a year before, these parties had extended the lifespan of germany's nuclear plants. After Fukushima they merely announced a moratorium on the extension and a plan to re-examine germany's nuclear plants.
But in the weeks after Fukushima, there were three state elections, in which both these parties lost votes. The FDP fell below the 5% barrier and out of parliament in two states and their chairman announced that this had been a vote about the future of nuclear power.
Maybe if germany's election calendar had been different, if these elections had not happened in the shadow of Fukushima, if that memory had faded away as people started taking climate change more seriously, germany would still be using nuclear power.