Germany: three nuclear power plants shut down tomorrow. The Germans must hope for the wind to avoid blackouts …
Tomorrow three nuclear power plants will be removed from the supply network in Germany as part of the country 's plan to end the use of atomic energy.
"The phasing out of nuclear power makes our country safer and helps avoid radioactive waste," said Steffi Lemke, Federal Minister for the Environment and Nuclear Safety.
“It is now essential… to advance the search for a final repository for high-level radioactive waste, as well as permanent solutions for low- and medium-level radioactive waste,” the environment ministry said.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel accelerated the phasing out following the 2011 Fukushima incident in Japan. The reasoning that the German hinterland is not in the same condition as the Japanese coast was useless.
The closure on Friday affects the power plants of Brokdorf in Schleswig-Holstein, Grohnde in Lower Saxony and Gundremmingen C in Bavaria.
The remaining three German nuclear power plants – Emsland in Lower Saxony, Isar 2 in Bavaria and Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg – will be closed by the end of 2022 "at the latest," the environment ministry said. "Since 2011, Germany has drawn a line under highly problematic technology in an orderly and reliable process," Lemke said.
Nuclear power accounts for around 10% of Germany's electricity production, so from tomorrow 5% of German energy will be lacking and then another 5% by 2022. The alternative to this energy will come either from wind power or from coal-fired power plants. So the German greens just have to hope that the wind blows… Otherwise, even the lignite will have to be burned!
" Security of supply in Germany continues to be guaranteed, " said Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Climate and Economy. He added that " reliable and sustainably generated electricity " is a " central requirement for aligning our economy and industry towards climate neutrality ". All beautiful words, but only words, as we said …
This stance puts Berlin at odds with France, where nuclear is the most important element of its energy mix (and also helps supply Germany). European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said in September that existing nuclear plants, which provide low-carbon electricity essential for the green transition, can be kept in operation "for two, five, 10 years", adding: "Why deprive us of this production capacity?"
France is planning to reduce the share of nuclear in its electricity mix from 75% to 50% by 2035, but President Emmanuel Macron said in November that France "will restart construction of nuclear reactors " while " continuing to develop renewable energies ".
Macron also said that France will invest € 1 billion in research and development, particularly in small modular reactors.
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The article Germany: three nuclear power plants shut down tomorrow. The Germans must hope for the wind to avoid blackouts… it comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/germania-domani-spengono-tre-centrali-nucleari-i-tedeschi-devono-sperare-nel-vento-per-evitare-blackout/ on Thu, 30 Dec 2021 18:04:15 +0000.