Germany extends two nuclear power plants by a few months
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Between energy imperatives and political considerations, Robert Habeck has decided: of the last three nuclear power plants supposed to close definitively at the end of the year, two will finally “held in reserve” until spring 2023, announced on Monday, September 5, the German Minister of Economy.
“It is very unlikely that the power system will experience crisis situations for a few hours during the winter, but this cannot be completely ruled out”said Mr. Habeck to justify this sprain of a few months from the nuclear phase-out schedule, set by the government of Angela Merkel after the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
Based on the results of the “stress test” that the government had ordered in July from the four operators of the German electricity network, 50Herz, Amprion, TenneT and TransnetBW, Mr. Habeck’s plan calls for “keep in reserve” the two power plants in the south of the country, Isar 2 (Bavaria) and Neckarwestheim (Baden-Württemberg). Unlike that of Emsland (Lower Saxony), which will close as planned at the end of December, these two power plants can be called upon if necessary until mid-April 2023. But this is only a reprieve of three month and a half, insisted the minister, specifying that no additional fuel would be purchased.
“A global extension of the life of nuclear power plants would not be defensible, if only in view of their state of safety. You can’t play with nuclear energy.said Mr. Habeck, explaining that the decision to postpone the closure of two power stations for three months was linked to several “factors of uncertainty” : the increasingly probable hypothesis of a total stoppage of Russian gas deliveries, the closure of half of the French nuclear fleet and the extremely low level of the Rhine, a consequence of the drought, which complicates the delivery of coal to the thermal power stations located along the river.
A safety valve
In such a context, explained the Minister, Germany must do everything to avoid bottlenecks. For this, the “reservation” of two power plants is a safety valve: in the event of an emergency, they would reduce Germany’s need for electricity from abroad, from 5.1 to 4.6 gigawatts (GW ). On the other hand, it is illusory to believe that keeping them in operation would be a response to the cessation of gas deliveries: according to Mr Habeck, the savings made on total gas consumption in the event of their continued operation would only be the order of 0.09%.
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