Germany to keep two nuclear power plants on standby until mid-April 2023
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An about-face deemed necessary to deal with possible energy shortages this winter.
Germany, which intended to definitively close its last three nuclear center, will finally leave two on standby until mid-April 2023 to deal with possible electricity shortages. Following a new network stress test, two of the three remaining power plants “will remain available until mid-April 2023 if needed“Said Economy Minister Robert Habeck in Berlin on Monday, returning to the timetable for the closure of nuclear power plants announced by Angela Merkel after the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
“It is certainly very unlikely that the electrical system will experience crisis situations for a few hours during the winter, but this cannot be completely excluded at present.“, justified the Ecologist Minister of the Economy. Two power plants in the south of the country, Isar 2 (near Munich) and Neckarwestheim 2 (Baden-Württemberg, south-west), will thus remain on standby to deal with any energy emergency.
A debate that agitates the political class
New fuel elementswill not be loaded and in mid-April 2023 it will also be over for the reserveurgently, he assured. “Nuclear energy is and remains a high-risk technology and highly radioactive waste weighs on dozens of generations to come“, underlines the minister. The environmental vice-chancellor was one of the most reluctant to such an extension, insistently demanded by their liberal allies within the government coalition.
For Robert Habeck, “a blanket life extension would not be defensible, even in view of the safety status of nuclear power plants“. “You can’t play with nuclear energy“. He referred to a “series of uncertainty factorsto justify this choice, which is likely to rile up the Greens, historical opponents of nuclear power. In addition to the restrictions on Russian gas deliveries, Robert Habeck cited the fact that around half of the nuclear power plants in France were shut down and the drought, which is weakening the production of hydroelectric power plants in neighboring countries.
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This decision is the result of an expertise, called “stress test», carried out by the four operators of the German electricity network, 50Herz Transmission, Amprion, TenneT TSO and TransnetBW. At the beginning of August, Chancellor Olaf Scholz had prepared the ground with a population traditionally unfavorable to nuclear power: This “can still make sense“not to cut the last power stations in the country from the network, he had estimated.
Facing the threat of an energy shortage
A first test in March had concluded that the three nuclear power plants still in operation in Germany were not necessary to ensure the energy security of the first European economy. These currently produce 6% of Germany’s net electricity production. “This is a debate that traditionally makes waves in Germany, which arouses a lot of emotions“, admitted to the press Robert Habeck about this bone of contention for the coalition.
Faced with the threat of an energy shortage this winter, the German government has already decided to increase the use of coal, a particularly polluting energy. Last week, the Russian giant Gazprom announced that its Nord Stream gas pipeline linking Russia to northern Germany, which was due to resume service on Saturday after maintenance, would finally be “completelystopped until the repair of a turbine of this vital pipeline for the supply of Europeans.
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On Sunday, Chancellor Scholz wanted to be reassuring: Germany “can face this winterand ensure its energy supply despite the drying up of Russian gas deliveries on which its economy is highly dependent, he said. But he also stressed that changes at European level in the electricity market were needed. As in other EU countries, the rise in prices is fueling public concern and calls for demonstrations, mainly at the initiative of the far right or the far left, are worrying the government.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, the government of Olaf Scholz has released massive aid in favor of purchasing power. Germany is not the only country to reassess its stance on nuclear power after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the end of August, the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had announced that a reflection was going to be launched on the possible construction of “next-generation nuclear reactors, with new safety mechanisms“.
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