Dhe pressure on the traffic light coalition to let the remaining three nuclear power plants run longer is increasing. “It’s not about questioning the fundamental decision,” said Andreas Jung, climate policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, on Friday on “Deutschlandfunk”. “But do we really want to shut down the three existing nuclear power plants in the winter when the government fears an energy emergency?” A temporary extension is “of course feasible”. In his opinion, gas production from biomass should also be used more. On Thursday, Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) spoke out in favor of letting the nuclear power plants run longer “if necessary”. In the federal government, however, the Greens lead the ministries responsible for this. Both Economics and Climate Minister Robert Habeck and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke reject the use of nuclear power beyond the end of the year.
To a certain extent, Japan is demonstrating what Germany has so far shied away from. There they are back to nuclear energy. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has now pledged to have at least nine reactors connected to the grid by winter in order to avoid possible supply bottlenecks and to allay public concerns about the rise in energy prices. The power plants have already been approved again, but are currently not supplying electricity due to maintenance work. The suppliers had already planned to put the power plants back into operation by winter.
Maximum use of nuclear power in France
The Prime Minister’s announcement increases the pressure on utilities. Since the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in 2011, ten nuclear reactors have been reconnected to the grid in Japan. However, only five of these are currently in operation, while the others are being serviced or upgraded. In the years after the Fukushima disaster, Kishida’s Liberal Democrats only wanted to use nuclear energy on a small scale. Now the prime minister is counting on the maximum use of the nuclear power plants as long as this is safely possible. As in Germany, the government in Tokyo has called for energy saving. At the same time, she warns not to do without the air conditioning because of the heat.
France, which with 56 reactors relies more heavily on nuclear power than any other country in Europe, is now leaving three plants online at the urging of the national electricity grid operator, although the current heat and the lack of cooling from the rivers actually require them to be switched off. The Golfech and Blayais power plants in the south-west and Saint-Alban in the south-east of the country are affected. It’s about “managing the power grid securely and controlling the flow of electricity on the lines as best as possible,” said the power grid operator. The exemption should apply until August 8th. The “temporary change of the temperature limit values” is possible on application to the nuclear regulatory authority if the power plant operation is necessary for the operation of the power grid.
Novel mini reactors are to be created
Thanks to its domestic nuclear power plants and reduced dependence on oil and gas from abroad, France’s government sees itself at an advantage over Germany – in the current energy crisis, but also in the long term. “Nuclear energy is a sustainable solution in France and in other European countries,” said President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday. He wants to build at least six new reactors, increase the regular service life to more than 50 years and also promote the development of new types of mini-reactors.
Nevertheless, France is also threatened with supply bottlenecks in the short term: Gas supply via pipelines from Russia has dried up, and due to maintenance work and technical problems only half of the nuclear power plant fleet is currently connected to the grid. For this reason, the Cordemais coal-fired power plant, which had actually been shut down, was put on standby for the winter and the running time of the second remaining coal-fired power plant in Cordemais on the Loire was extended.
Restarting nuclear power plants that have been shut down, as in Japan, is not an issue in France. In any case, only the two reactors in Fessenheim in Alsace, which went offline in 2020, would be suitable. Right-wing populist Marine Le Pen has been calling for the power plant to be put back into operation for months. But the government does not want a renaissance for Fessenheim. On the one hand, the preparations for the dismantling are in full swing, on the other hand, they do not want to provoke a conflict with their German neighbors on the other side of the Rhine.
