Bavaria is considering putting the plant back into operation.
(Photo: imago/Michael Eichhammer)
Dusseldorf The Bavarian state government wants to have it checked whether it is possible to restart the Grundremmingen nuclear power plant. Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (free voters) said this to the “Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung” on Friday. The nuclear power plant was shut down at the end of last year.
“Block C of the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant has already lost its authorization for power operation,” said a spokesman for RWE at the request of the Handelsblatt. However, one can understand that the federal government is examining all supply options with a view to the war between Russia and Ukraine. The authorities have not yet contacted RWE for an audit, but if that is the case, “we will of course provide the requested information”.
The Ukraine war caused a rethink in German energy policy. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) recently advocated the construction of LNG terminals, advocates creating a coal reserve and had not even ruled out an extension of the lifetime of nuclear power plants. Two days later, however, the minister made it clear that they wanted to focus on other measures because the permits for the continued operation of the nuclear power plants were missing.
The nuclear companies are meanwhile open to talks, but point out that it is not only the lack of permits that could become a problem.
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“Our power plant in Emsland is geared towards phase-out at the end of the year, by which time the fuel will have been used up. Unlike with coal-fired power plants, for example, continued operation would not be easily feasible,” RWE clarified. The hurdles are extremely high, also technically.
Three reactors are scheduled to go offline at the end of 2022
The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder still wants to give priority to the continued operation of the nuclear power plants over additional coal-fired power generation. In addition to Grundremmingen, two other nuclear power plants, Brokdorf and Grohnde, were shut down last year. Isar 2 is still connected to the grid, also in Bavaria, with an output of 1,400 megawatts. The remaining nuclear power plants in Germany that are still active are in Emsland in Lower Saxony and Neckarwestheim in Baden-Württemberg.
All three will go offline at the end of 2022 following the decision to phase out nuclear power in 2011, the year of the reactor accident in Fukushima. The power plants account for around three percent of electricity production in Germany. In 2021 it was still around twelve percent.
>> Read about this: Extending the lifetime of nuclear power plants: Energy companies open to talks
Lars Feld, former chairman of the Council of Experts and now chief adviser to Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), believes that longer maturities are advisable in the current situation. “There is much to suggest that we will need the nuclear power plants a little longer until the renewables are more extensively developed,” Feld told the Handelsblatt. If the last three nuclear power plants were shut down, they would no longer be an option for security of supply.
Bavaria’s Economics Minister Aiwanger, on the other hand, pointed out that “the downside of nuclear power is the issue of safety”. The Bavarian politician therefore advocates buying “every available coal on the world market”. Brown coal must also be used more in emergencies.
More: Will the war in Ukraine bring about a change in the energy transition?
