Germany is shutting down more nuclear power plants

Created: 12/20/2021 Updated: 12/20/2021, 2:58 PM

After 35 years, the Brokdorf nuclear power plant is now being shut down.

© Christian Charisius / dpa

Germany should finally phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022, and three more nuclear reactors will go offline in just a few days.

But what remains when nuclear power goes?

Berlin - The final phase-out is getting closer: On December 31, 2021, in just a few days, three more nuclear reactors will be switched off in Germany.

Then only three remain - the lights should go out there forever by the end of 2022.

"The nuclear phase-out is irreversible," states the new Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) unequivocally.

He is progressing “according to plan”.

"And that's just as well."

The discussions of the past few weeks have shown that by far not everyone in this country is of this opinion.

Several CEOs, including the former CEO of the chemical company BASF, Jürgen Hambrecht, are calling on politicians to extend the operating times of the existing power plants.

Criticism of the nuclear phase-out

Critics like Hambrecht fear gaps in the power supply - especially since Germany wants to get out of coal-fired power generation before 2038.

The federal government at the time sealed the phase-out of nuclear energy at the end of 2022 after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan.

The AfD is also among those in favor of turning away from this historic decision. It was only last Thursday that it failed with an application in the Bundestag with which it wanted to extend the life of the six existing nuclear power plants "until at least the end of the next decade". The AfD MP Steffen Kortré accused the federal government of the “world's most stupid energy policy”. There is a threat of “entire cities being shut down”.

The German Institute for Economic Research contradicts this representation.

In a recent analysis, the DIW experts working with economist Claudia Kemfert assume that even after the nuclear phase-out has been completed, there will be “sufficient capacities” to secure the energy supply in Germany.

If the German electricity system "quickly switches to renewable energy sources in connection with storage and flexibility options", security of supply will not be jeopardized in the medium term, they write.

Proven means against climate change?

In addition to concerns about power outages, it is also heard more often that this is an energy source that emits hardly any CO2 emissions compared to coal and gas.

Nuclear power as an effective means in the fight against climate change?

This question is also debated at EU level. The EU Commission is currently discussing whether nuclear energy can be classified as a "sustainable" investment in the future - that is, whether it should receive a kind of green label. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), nuclear energy causes 40 times fewer greenhouse gas emissions than an efficient gas-fired power plant.

Atomic critics warn against false promises. "They promise to have a low-CO2 or even CO2-free form of energy that frees us from embarking on a truly sustainable solution to the energy issue," says the President of the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Disposal ( BASE), Wolfram König. “Nuclear energy is of course not CO2-free,” he affirmed in an interview with dpa. That already begins with the extraction of uranium, which "brings with it considerable environmental problems". Even the construction of the nuclear power plants is not in itself CO2-free.

König calls the debates about possible service life extensions "obsolete, because there are no political, technical or legal bases for restarting the shutdown reactors".

In addition, the risk of nuclear accidents should not be underestimated.

The President of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, Inge Paulini, warns of this: “The risks of nuclear power cannot be controlled.

That was shown by the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents, ”she says.

These disasters left "families torn apart" and "had a significant impact on society".

Looking for a repository

A look ahead also shows that the shadows of the past still extend far into the future: When the lights go out in the last German nuclear power plant at the end of 2022, the nuclear waste that has accumulated over decades will continue to shine in large quantities.

Experts expect around 10,500 tons of highly radioactive waste from fuel elements by 2080.

At some point they should rest in a repository that is officially supposed to be found by 2031.

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And even after that, a number of questions remained unanswered, such as the continued operation of interim storage facilities, safety issues and more.

One thing is clear: the nuclear phase-out has an end date - but it remains a permanent social task.

dpa