It is a historic step: after a good six decades of nuclear energy in Germany, the last three nuclear power plants went offline late on Saturday evening. This was announced by the operators of the Meiler Isar 2 in Bavaria, Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg and Emsland in Lower Saxony. According to the operator, the first thing to do was disconnect from the network at 10:37 p.m. in Meiler Emsland. This was followed by Isar 2 at 11:52 p.m. and finally Neckarwestheim 2 at 11:59 p.m.
“The chapter is now closed,” said the boss of the Emsland operator RWE, Markus Krebber, in a statement. “Now it is important to use all our strength to push ahead with the construction of hydrogen-capable gas-fired power plants as quickly as possible in addition to renewable energies, so that the security of supply is guaranteed if Germany ideally wants to phase out coal in 2030.”
Until the end, the operators had still produced electricity through nuclear fission – from midnight this was no longer permitted according to the Atomic Energy Act. “We work according to the law and it is clear that power operation from April 16 would be a criminal offense,” said the federal chief nuclear supervisor, head of the department for nuclear safety and radiation protection in the Ministry of the Environment, Gerrit Niehaus, the German press -Agency.
nuclear power in Germany
A good 62 years ago, Germany’s first nuclear power plant went into commercial operation in Kahl, Lower Franconia. After the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) pushed through the final phase-out of the technology in Germany. Actually, the piles should have been taken off the grid at the end of last year. Because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the traffic light coalition of her successor Olaf Scholz (SPD) decided after weeks of discussion in autumn to let the three reactors continue to run over the winter until mid-April.
With the exit, a new energy era begins: opponents of nuclear power celebrated the historic step on Saturday with festivals in Berlin and elsewhere. Several hundred people came to a “switch-off party” in Neckarwestheim, and the Bund Naturschutz and Greenpeace also organized a “nuclear phase-out party” in Munich. In the Lingen nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony, hundreds of opponents of nuclear power demonstrated against the fuel element factory ANF, which is also located there and belongs to the French Framatome group, and also demanded its closure.
Dismay at the exit, however, prevailed at the Isar 2 nuclear power plant in Essenbach, Bavaria. According to the chairman of the Preussen-Elektra group, Guido Knott, the shutdown is an emotional moment for the employees of the kiln: “Today, after 50 years, electricity production from nuclear energy at Preussen-Elektra ends I was also personally very affected.”
The group had previously explained the process in detail, which is virtually the same for all three reactors: After disconnecting from the power grid, the reactor should be switched off within about fifteen minutes. After that it is “cold down”. This means that the temperature in the system is reduced to ambient temperature within around twelve hours. About nine hours after the shutdown, steam should no longer be visible over the cooling tower.
Nuclear power – international
Internationally, however, it is not the first farewell to nuclear energy: Italy already abandoned nuclear energy in the wake of the Chernobyl reactor catastrophe (1986). Other countries take different paths. In Belgium, nuclear power plants should be able to continue running at least until the end of 2035. The Swiss nuclear power plants may be operated as long as they are safe; however, the construction of new facilities is prohibited. Spain’s leftist government plans to shut down all of the country’s nuclear power plants between 2027 and 2035.
The challenges in dealing with the high-risk technology remain in Germany even after the departure from nuclear power. First of all, the piles have to be dismantled as quickly as possible. The Atomic Energy Act has the regulation that the nuclear power plants are to be dismantled immediately, said nuclear supervisor Niehaus. “On the one hand, that means pushing ahead with the dismantling approval process, but also taking the first permissible steps towards dismantling.”
Future
According to the Baden-Württemberg operator EnBW, a strategy for the dismantling of their nuclear power plants had already been developed in 2012. All dismantling permits would already be available. The Isar 2 operator, the Eon company Preussen-Elektra, on the other hand, expects the license to be granted in the coming months and that dismantling could then begin in early 2024.
And then there is the question of what to do with the radioactive waste? “We have used nuclear power in our country for about three generations, producing waste that will remain dangerous for 30,000 generations,” said Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens). “We pass this responsibility on to our grandchildren, great-grandchildren and many more generations to come.” Germany is in the middle of searching for a repository, which is a complex task for society as a whole.
