Should the three remaining German nuclear reactors supply electricity beyond the end of the year? In contrast to the FDP, the SPD and the Greens clearly say no. But the Liberals are not giving up.
Despite the no of the coalition partners SPD and Greens, the FDP sticks to the demand to talk about an extension of the operating times of the three remaining German nuclear power plants. Group manager Johannes Vogel demanded a serious technical examination from Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens).
“We are in the worst energy crisis in decades and we want to deliberately take safe and climate-neutral power plants off the grid. That’s absurd,” Vogel told the editorial network Germany (RND).
What happens if Russia stops gas?
The maintenance-related delivery stop on the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1 and the fear that Russia could allow the gas tap has reignited the discussion about the three nuclear power plants. They are scheduled to be shut down by the end of the year. Union politicians have also been demanding continued operation of the Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2 nuclear power plants for a long time due to an impending gas shortage.
Habeck and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (also Greens) had advised against longer terms in a test report in March. A small contribution to energy supply would be opposed to major economic, legal and security risks. An extension of the running times would not bring any additional amounts of electricity in the coming winter, but at the earliest in autumn 2023 after refilling with new fuel rods. The three nuclear power plants generate around five percent of Germany’s electricity production. The operators of the plants have also rejected extensions to the service life.
Vogel asked Habeck to take stock of the availability of fuel rods for continued operation. “The Minister of Energy and Economics should now ensure that we get a clean inventory at very short notice: how many fuel rods are still there in which power plant? And then we can continue to discuss.” The energy policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Michael Kruse, suggested a “nuclear power summit” in the “Welt”.
Union politicians also for extension
The Union is also keeping up its pressure on the government. The CDU energy expert Mark Helfrich (CDU) told the “Welt” that retrofitting with fuel rods is not necessary if you drive them with reduced power. The chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber (CSU), told the Funke media group: “It is incomprehensible to people why an extension of the term is ruled out for ideological reasons, but coal-fired power plants are ramped up.”
The economy Veronika Grimm does not consider the nuclear power plants to be decisive. “Gas power generation can be replaced by coal power generation in the short term,” Grimm told the “Handelsblatt”. However, she considers the continued operation of the three nuclear power plants to be necessary for around five years. “As long as renewable energies are not sufficiently developed and no gas-fired power plants have been built, we will have to keep and operate large numbers of coal-fired power plants in the system without nuclear power plants.”
The Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW), on the other hand, does not believe in longer terms. «For the energy industry in Germany it is clear: the decision to phase out electricity generation from nuclear power has been taken. Nobody in the energy industry wants to go back to this risky and expensive technology,” said General Manager Kerstin Andreae of the “Rheinische Post”.
Source: Stern
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