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Nuclear power plant Isar 2 near Landshut: how safe are the Bavarian nuclear power plants?
Photo: Lennart Preiss/Getty Images
The Federal Environment Ministry fears that Bavaria is being too lax about the safety of its nuclear power plants.
As the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" reports, the head of the department for nuclear safety and radiation protection in the Federal Environment Ministry, Gerrit Niehaus, criticized the Bavarian Environment Ministry for this back in June.
The letter is available from the »Süddeutsche Zeitung«.
Since 2019, a »periodic safety review« has been due in the three Bavarian nuclear power plants.
This is to take place every ten years, the last being in 2009. In his letter from June, Niehaus criticized "that you are carrying out an assessment of security that I cannot understand and that contradicts the principles of German supervisory practice".
These principles include "relying on thorough testing and evidence."
Bavaria would like to carry out the test during operation and refers to a report by TÜV Süd, which came to the conclusion that Isar 2 could continue to be operated.
Niehaus rejects this.
"Although the systems could initially run with undetected deficits, you don't see that as a concession to safety."
In a telephone conference between the heads of the three nuclear companies Eon, RWE and EnBW and the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Robert Habeck (Greens), the minutes of which are also available to the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", it was discussed that continued operation of the nuclear power plants would raise "renewed questions of safety and safety checks". .
An extension of the service life »only makes sense if either the depth of testing of the basic safety analysis is reduced and/or extensive retrofitting measures (...) are dispensed with«.
However, the nuclear power plants would "replace only a small amount of gas in a situation of gas shortage," the protocol goes on to say.
The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder has been pushing for weeks to extend the lifespan of the Bavarian nuclear power plants.
During a visit to the Isar 2 nuclear power plant near Landshut, he renewed this demand together with the CDU chairman Friedrich Merz.
Söder advocated continuing the operation of Isar 2 not only for the first quarter of next year, but at least until 2024.
This also means that you have to plan to get new fuel rods.
In the federal government, the tone on this matter is getting rougher.
Leading coalition partners from the SPD and FDP followed up on the SPIEGEL.
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