In Germany on Friday, three out of six operating nuclear power plants were shut down. This was reported on December 31 by the Associated Press.
The Brokdorf nuclear power plant, located about 40 kilometers northwest of Hamburg on the Elbe River, was the center of anti-nuclear protests sparked by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the USSR.
The other two factories are Grohnde, about 40 km south of Hanover, and Grundremmingen, 80 km west of Munich. As follows from the plan of the FRG authorities, they will be closed in a year.
The three reactors now being shut down started operation in the mid-1980s. They have provided electricity to millions of German families for nearly four decades.
“By massively increasing the use of renewable energy sources and accelerating the expansion of the power supply network, we can show that energy transition is possible in Germany,” – commented on the closure of the nuclear power plant Minister of Economy and Climate Robert Habek.
Environment Minister Steffi Lemke rejected suggestions that a new generation of nuclear power plants could prompt Germany to start building them again.
The final decision on where to store tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste generated by German power plants has not yet been made. Experts say some materials will remain dangerously radioactive for 35,000 generations.
The decision to phase out nuclear power and switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources was first taken by Gerhard Schroeder’s government in 2002. His successor, Angela Merkel, reversed her decision to extend the life of Germany’s nuclear power plants following the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011 and set 2022 as the deadline for their closure.
Earlier on Friday, political scientist Alexander Rahr noted that a commitment to the ideas of the green revolution and the abandonment of nuclear energy could play a fatal role for the German economy. In his opinion, the energy transition should be carried out slowly. In the absence of nuclear power plants and hydrocarbons, the question arises: will all renewable sources work in Germany to provide the country’s powerful economy with electricity?
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
