Berlin Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to keep two of the three nuclear power plants still in operation in Germany ready for emergencies. This would keep them operational beyond the planned shutdown at the end of the year.
The Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2 nuclear power plants would be “transferred to a reserve,” said Habeck when presenting the results of the second so-called stress test. They would be used “if the situation requires it,” said the minister.
According to Habeck, they will “still be available until mid-April 2023 in order to be able to make an additional contribution to the power grid in southern Germany over the winter of 2022/23 if necessary”. This also means that “all three nuclear power plants still connected to the grid in Germany are scheduled to go offline at the end of 2022”.
The third nuclear power plant is the Emsland reactor in Lower Saxony. A new state parliament will be elected there on October 9th. Lower Saxony is currently governed by a coalition with the CDU led by Social Democratic Prime Minister Stephan Weil.
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“We are sticking to the phase-out of nuclear power, as regulated in the Atomic Energy Act,” said Habeck at today’s press conference. New fuel elements would not be used, and mid-April 2023 would be the end of the two nuclear power plants in reserve. “Nuclear power is and will remain a high-risk technology, and the highly radioactive waste will burden tens of future generations,” said the minister.
Stress test fails clearly
The four electricity transmission system operators carried out the stress test: 50Hertz, Amprion, Tennet and TransnetBW. In three scenarios, they determined whether sufficient electricity would be available at all hours over the coming months. “Our message is very clear: It makes sense and is necessary to use all generation capacities,” said 50Hertz boss Stefan Kapferer when presenting the results.
The second stress test was carried out from mid-July to early September. They gradually scaled up their assumptions compared to the first analysis in spring. They assumed that the Ukraine war would have a much darker impact on the energy market. The calculations also take account of bottlenecks in power plant availability.
The energy group EnBW now wants to check whether its Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant can be kept operational beyond the end of the year. The company said on Monday in Karlsruhe that the legal framework would have to be created as soon as possible for operational readiness. “In addition, the details of the agreed procedure must be specified or clarified by the federal government, if possible in exchange with the power plant operators,” it said.
The energy supplier Eon sees a technical and organizational review of the Isar 2 nuclear power plant as necessary, the company announced on Monday evening. In terms of their technical design, nuclear power plants are not reserve power plants that can be switched on and off variably. In addition, Eon assured that the Isar 2 nuclear power plant would meet all safety-related requirements even if it continued to operate after December 31 and “is one of the safest plants in the world”.
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According to Economics Minister Robert Habeck, the affected nuclear power plant operators will “of course” receive compensation for their staff and other operating costs. The amount of government payments is still unclear, but will be manageable. The skimming off of “random profits” on the electricity market should bring in the money.
Habeck lags behind the demands of the FDP
However, Habeck’s measure falls far short of the demands of the coalition partner FDP. The liberals are demanding that all three reactors continue to be operated at least in stretch mode in order to stabilize the power supply system.
In addition, the stretching operation should have a price-dampening effect on the electricity market until spring 2023. “Stretched operation” means that existing fuel rods are used for up to three months beyond their planned service life with continuously decreasing output.
Habeck is now recommending another solution to the coalition: the two reactors in southern Germany should only be an emergency solution. “They are kept operational but no longer produce electricity,” he said. They would only be switched on if a supply bottleneck threatened.
The nuclear power plant is to be taken off the grid as planned, two others will be kept as operational reserves.
(Photo: dpa)
The Greens faction in the Bundestag has backed Habeck’s plan. “As group leaders, we support the proposal for a one-off temporary reserve for emergencies,” said Britta Haßelmann and Katharina Dröge on Monday in Berlin. The Greens parliamentary group will discuss this proposal intensively and take the time to discuss it.
The network stress test shows that nuclear power is not a solution. “Therefore there is nothing to be said for a stretching operation. Nuclear power is a high-risk technology and must be ended,” they declared. “The nuclear phase-out on December 31, 2022 has been decided and applies.” An extension of the terms is excluded.
FDP criticizes stress test as too optimistic
Michael Kruse, energy policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, said the results of the stress test were of little value. Because the assumptions are too optimistic. “They are politically determined and not derived from reality. Not only has there been a need for more electricity in Germany for a long time, but the skyrocketing electricity prices are forcing the economy to its knees,” said Kruse.
The lack of an extension for the nuclear power plants in Germany would unnecessarily burden electricity customers. “Instead of continuing to produce cheap electricity with available power plants, power plants that have been written off go into reserve. The electricity markets need the continued operation of existing power plants as a sign of relief.”
Before the results were announced, FDP leader Christian Lindner called for all possibilities to be used to “reduce the price of electricity for people and companies”. This is “an economic policy stress test that must also play a role in addition to the energy policy stress test”. There is “a lot to suggest that the three nuclear power plants should continue to operate to ensure grid stability”.
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In the coalition, the FDP is in the minority when it comes to extending the AKW runtime. SPD leader Saskia Esken said on Monday after deliberations by the party leadership that all arguments against the use of nuclear energy were “still correct”.
Union criticizes Habeck’s decision
The top of the Union faction criticized Habeck’s decision. The three remaining nuclear power plants “could deliver energy and electricity for Germany safely, reliably and affordably in this crisis,” said Jens Spahn (CDU), deputy leader of the Union faction. “And they should continue to do so for at least the next two winters.”
Spahn called it remarkable that the nuclear power plant in Emsland, Lower Saxony, was apparently not being considered for continued operation, even though it was the newest of all the nuclear power plants still in operation in Germany. In Lower Saxony there will be a state election on October 9th. The Greens “prefer to switch off climate-neutral nuclear power plants and let the climate killer coal run more if there is any doubt. With the Greens, the ideology of the party takes precedence over the interests of our country.”
CSU boss Markus Söder was also disappointed with the results of the nuclear power plant stress test. “It is a decision against all reason and to the detriment of our country,” tweeted Bavaria’s Prime Minister on Monday. “Robert Habeck accepts the risk of a blackout and further increases in electricity prices,” criticized Söder. “After the gas allocation, the next serious mistake.”
The fact that Habeck only wants to keep the two reactors in southern Germany in reserve has to do with a special situation: Secured power plant capacity is scarce in the south. “Secured performance” means that power generation capacities can be used in a plannable manner. This is the case with coal, gas and nuclear power plants. It is different with renewable energies, whose generation capacity is volatile and can only be forecast to a limited extent.
Bavarian economy warns of power shortages
If the two nuclear power plants in the south were shut down at the end of 2022, a significant part of the secured power plant capacity in the federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg would be lost. The coal-fired power plants in the south are not enough to compensate for this.
Gas-fired power plants, on the other hand, could have problems with a restricted gas supply. At the same time, there is a lack of power transmission lines that could ensure the supply of wind power from the north to the south.
The Bavarian economy has been pointing to the tense situation in the south for months. She calls for “the three existing nuclear power plants to remain connected to the grid for a limited time, at least until the end of the 2023 heating season”. That’s what Bertram Brossardt, general manager of the Bavarian Business Association (VBW), said recently.
He warned: “We already have a supply problem on the European electricity markets, which otherwise threatens to worsen, leading to extremely high electricity prices and also jeopardizing security of supply.”
Bavaria is particularly affected because the transmission grid is not sufficiently developed to transport electricity from the north to Bavaria without grid bottlenecks. “The coming winter will therefore be a serious test for the energy supply. That is why we need a broad energy mix. Nuclear power with base load capacity is an important pillar here.”
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