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Nuclear power plant Isar 2
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AYHAN UYANIK / REUTERS
Economics Minister Robert Habeck expects two nuclear power plants in Germany to continue operating beyond the end of the year.
As of today, he assumes that the “reserve” will be drawn and that the Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim nuclear power plants will be on the grid by mid-April 2023, according to ministry circles.
The background is the tense situation on the French electricity market.
According to SPIEGEL information, the continued operation of the nuclear power plant had already become apparent.
The operators of the nuclear power plants Isar 2 (Bavaria) and Neckarwestheim (Baden-Württemberg) have now agreed with the ministry on key points for the implementation of the planned deployment reserve.
Accordingly, the two nuclear power plants are to be transferred to an operational reserve after the end of their regular service life on December 31, 2022.
They are ready to prevent an impending power grid bottleneck in southern Germany.
At the beginning of September, Habeck announced the plan for a possible continued operation (reserve operation) of the two nuclear power plants.
The third still active nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony (Emsland) should not be part of this emergency reserve and should be shut down by the end of the year.
A final decision on the continued operation of the nuclear power plant has not yet been made, it said.
It should fall this year.
For this final decision, the ministry is based on the results of the network stress test that Habeck presented a few weeks ago.
Above all, the supply situation in France is "viewed with concern".
More than half of the nuclear power plants there are currently not connected to the grid, so there is a lack of electricity, which Germany compensates for in part with electricity from gas-fired power plants.
France is heading towards the two worse scenarios in the stress test for the winter, it said.
In order to make the reserve possible, the operators should “start doing everything that is necessary immediately” so that the systems can continue to be operated beyond December 31st and up to April 15th, 2023 at the latest.
The cornerstones agreed between Habeck and the operators are the basis for the next steps in implementing the operational reserve.
To this end, the Federal Government intends to draw up legislative proposals for regulation.
The legislative process should be completed by the end of October.
ssu/dpa