Alexandra Beier | News Getty Images | Getty Images German lawmakers announced Monday that they are going to burn coal and keep two nuclear power plants available as a last resort to get through the winter. “Big crises – war and climate crises – have a very specific effect,” Robert Habeck, the federal minister for the economy and climate protection, said in written statements published on Monday. (The statement is in German, and CNBC used Google to translate it into English.) The German government has announced plans to keep the Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim nuclear power plants, both in the southern part of the country, in a kind of standby status, available only if the country has no other option, it said. the results of the second grid stress test, in which German officials calculate its energy needs based on a range of possibilities. This second grid stress test focused on the winter period from 2022 to 2023, when energy demand is highest as people and businesses need to heat their homes. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection said in its written statement that “hourly crisis situations in the power system” this winter are “highly unlikely, but cannot be completely ruled out at this time.” The war in Ukraine has affected Germany’s ability to manage its energy supply because Germany is heavily dependent on natural gas exports from Russia. Gazprom, Russia’s largest state energy giant, said on Friday it would not reopen the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is Europe’s main natural gas supply route, citing the need for maintenance work. In addition to squeezing natural gas supplies, summer heatwaves and ongoing drought have also disrupted energy sources. “The summer drought has reduced water levels in rivers and lakes, which weakens hydropower in neighboring countries and also makes it difficult to transport coal to the power plants we need to use because of the tight natural gas situation,” Hambeck said. . Nuclear power station Neckarwestheim. Ahead of the war in Ukraine and looming gas shortages, German lawmakers are keeping two nuclear reactors, including the Neckarwestheim nuclear plant, on standby until April 2023. Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images Germany’s European neighbors are also struggling to meet their energy needs. About half of France’s nuclear reactors have been shut down as the country struggles to maintain aging units, the New York Times reports. Germany said its European Union membership was part of the reason for its decision. “We have enough energy inside and for Germany; we are an electricity exporting country. But we are part of a European system and this year is a special year across Europe,” Hambeck said. Germany has also struggled to boost renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, and build new transmission lines. Although Germany is choosing to give itself the option to switch to the two nuclear power plants in the south, Germany is not changing its long-term goal of shutting down all nuclear power in the country. The announcement is largely an interim split for the country, similar to the proposal California is currently pursuing to keep its last active nuclear reactor, Diablo Canyon, online. “Nuclear power is and will remain a high-risk technology, and highly radioactive waste will burden tens of generations to come. You cannot play with nuclear power,” Habeck said in the statement. “Therefore, a general life extension would not be justified in terms of the safety situation of nuclear power plants. With the operational reserve, we take into account the risks of nuclear technology and the special situation in winter 22/23. So it can act if the worst comes to the worst.” While Germany has a clear aversion to nuclear power, nuclear power is historically safer than burning fossil fuels. Brown coal, coal and oil have far more deaths per unit of energy produced than nuclear power.
