By 2022 Germany should get out of nuclear energy until 2038 at the latest from coal power. However, the construction of solar and wind turbines is currently slowing down massively. Warnings about a power gap are loud - and also demands to let run Germany's nuclear power plant but longer and to build new nuclear power plants worldwide.
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Issue 39/2019
Trio Infernal
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Representatives of very different groups refer in part to a report from the IPCC of 2014, which presents nuclear energy as a mature base-load power source with low greenhouse gas emissions. They point out that in the same report the IPCC points out the risks of uranium mining, the operation of the reactors and the unresolved disposal problem.
But even if you ignore the security concerns: Energy from nuclear power plants does not seem to have good future prospects. According to the World Status Report on Atomic Energy, an annual analysis of the state of the industry, nuclear energy is simply too cumbersome and expensive to be competitive as an alternative to climate change.
According to the report released by nuclear analyst Mycle Schneider next week, which is available to SPIEGEL in advance, nuclear power accounts for only about ten percent of the global electricity mix, just under 7.5 percentage points less than the 1996 wedding of technology.
The loss of meaning should continue, according to Schneider:
- Eighty of the 417 active reactors are older than 41 years and would have exceeded the age of manufacturers envisaged by manufacturers.
- Another 192 nuclear power plants are according to the study at least 31 years old.
- Only 46 reactors would be newly built , 27 of the projects should take longer than planned.
In general, new nuclear power plants would only pay off if their builders received state subsidies. The cost of building new nuclear plants was at least $ 112 per megawatt hour. For photovoltaic systems, it is only at least $ 36, with wind turbines on land sometimes even only $ 29.
"Expectations that nuclear power could experience a renaissance as a CO2-weak form of energy can not be confirmed," says Schneider.
Interactive Map: Fear of the Nuclear Cloud
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