The Chancellor has decided: The remaining three German nuclear power plants should run longer. Instead of December 31, 2022, they can supply electricity until April 15, 2023. However, according to the plans, the power plants will not run continuously or at full capacity until the new end date. The Bundestag is discussing the draft law for the first time this Wednesday; a vote is to be taken on Friday. An overview of the content:

Delivery 2

A valve leak in the Bavarian nuclear power plant became known in September. The power plant had to be shut down for almost a week for maintenance – it has been back on the grid since the end of October. According to the operator PreussenElektra, Isar 2 will be able to operate at full capacity until mid-December.

According to the federal government, the pile with the existing fuel rods can still run “probably until the beginning of March 2023”. “In the process, between about 95 percent of the nominal electrical power and about 50 percent of the nominal electrical power can be provided at the end,” says the draft law. In total, around two terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity would be generated in the new year. For comparison: According to the Federal Network Agency, around 504 TWh of electricity was consumed in Germany in 2021.

Neckarwestheim 2

According to the draft law, the power plant in Baden-Württemberg can be shut down at the end of the year “in order to then reconfigure the reactor core”. The procedure therefore takes about two to three weeks. “Following this standstill, the Neckarwestheim 2 nuclear power plant can be restarted and operated until April 15, 2023.” Initially, around 70 percent of the rated electrical power could be supplied. The value then drops to “about 55 percent”. Overall, Neckarwestheim 2 will generate around 1.7 TWh of electricity next year.

Emsland

Work is also necessary in the plant in Lower Saxony in order to enable a longer service life than previously planned. The power plant “is expected to be shut down for about two weeks at the end of January 2023 in order to reconfigure the fuel elements in the core,” according to the draft law. “Then the plant can continue its power operation until April 15.” The performance “successively decreases”. A total of around 1.7 TWh of electricity could still be generated in 2023.

security questions

During the coalition dispute over the continued operation of the nuclear power plant, critics of the lifetime extension pointed out that the plants had not been checked for safety risks on a large scale for longer than usual because of the nuclear phase-out expected at the turn of the year. This involves the so-called periodic safety review (PSÜ), which is particularly extensive and actually has to be carried out every ten years. For the three power plants, however, the last PSR took place in 2009.

“In view of the extremely short period of continued operation of a few months, in order to comply with the principle of proportionality, a periodic safety review – as a supplement to the ongoing supervisory review – should be refrained from,” the draft law says. It would be “impossible” to carry out a PSR and still take possible findings from it into account. However, “the safety of the systems is continuously ensured at a high level by comprehensive state supervision based on the applicable law”.