With a word of power, Chancellor Scholz ends the deadlocked dispute between Ministers Habeck and Lindner about extending the life of German nuclear power plants. Now it’s fast: The plan passes the cabinet in just four minutes. The law should be in place in six weeks.
Following the order of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Federal Cabinet decided to extend the service life of the three remaining nuclear power plants. Government officials said the change in the Atomic Energy Act had been approved by the ministers. After that, the Isar 2, Neckarwestheim 2 and Emsland kilns can run over the winter until April 15, 2023 during the energy crisis. Actually, all three should have been shut down at the end of the year. “After a somewhat difficult path, clarity has now been achieved,” said Economics Minister Robert Habeck.
According to the draft law, the three nuclear power plants can generate a total of around 5.4 terawatt hours of electricity in 2023. Then the fuel rods of the plants are used up. According to the Chancellor’s policy decision, new ones should no longer be used. The project should clear parliamentary hurdles by the end of November. Approval from the Greens is also considered certain.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck’s concept of an operational reserve is therefore obsolete. Scholz had spoken a word of power because Habeck could not communicate with FDP leader and finance minister Christian Lindner, who had demanded significantly longer terms. According to Habeck and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, the cabinet passed the project within four minutes.
With the longer term, care has now been taken to ensure that the available capacities can be used for this winter, especially for network stability in southern Germany, said Habeck. He is also confident that “a different situation will be found next winter” because the LNG terminals are currently being built to replace the gas supplies from Russia that have been lost.
