The shutdown of the last three nuclear power plants in Germany, expected tomorrow, April 15, will end the sixty-year era of nuclear power in Germany. The nuclear power plants Isar 2 in Bavaria, Emsland in Lower Saxony and Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg will be permanently disconnected from the grid.
The power plants produced electricity at full capacity until the last day. For example, the RWE power plant in Emsland in Lower Saxony from the beginning of the year to April 15 generated about two billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, which, according to a company representative, “corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of approximately 500,000 households.”
The Isar 2 power plant generated about 11 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, covering 12% of Bavaria’s electricity needs.
The Neckarwestheim 2 nuclear power plant had generated 1.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity by the time it was shut down this year.
However, nuclear energy no longer plays a significant role in the overall energy balance of Germany. Last year, 46.1% of energy production came from renewable sources, 45.3% from fossil fuels, 6.5% from nuclear and 2.1% from other sources.
According to the BDEW (Bundesverband der Energie – und Wasserwirtschaft eV), nuclear power plants accounted for four percent of Germany’s electricity generation in January-February, a third less than the 2022 average.
According to the German network agency Bundesnetzagentur, the shutdown of nuclear power plants does not jeopardize the security of supply, as there is enough power from other sources to generate electricity to cover the loss of nuclear energy.
However, the CEO of VIK (Verband der Industriellen Energie- und Kraftwirtschaft eV) Christian Seifert holds the opposite opinion and expects a shortage of energy supply.
“Relying on European energy imports is extremely risky,” – he said.
Seifert believes that in order to ensure that the phase-out of nuclear energy does not have long-term negative consequences, the necessary steps must already be taken to increase the capacity of the electricity grid.
“The disconnection of every single variable power plant from the grid has a price impact on the market and threatens Germany’s role as an industrial site,” he is sure.
However, the economics minister Robert Habeck confirmed in a statement that the security of Germany’s energy supply is guaranteed even after the shutdown of nuclear power plants thanks to the construction of renewable energy sources.
It was originally planned that the three nuclear power plants would be disconnected from the grid at the end of last year. However, due to the uncertainty with the energy supply caused by the conflict in Ukraine, the German ruling coalition decided to extend the operation of the nuclear power plant in order to safely cover the need for electricity during the winter.
With the shutdown of the last three nuclear power plants, the sixty-year era of peaceful atom in Germany is coming to an end. The Kahl nuclear power plant in Bavaria was first put into operation in Germany in 1960.
As previously reported EADailyTwenty scientists wrote a letter to the German Chancellor Olaf Scholzwhich urged him not to shut down the remaining reactors of the country’s three nuclear power plants.
