March 26th, 2023
The days of German nuclear power are numbered. The last three nuclear power plants are scheduled to go offline in mid-April 2023. The German nuclear phase-out, which was first initiated under the red-green federal government at the beginning of the millennium, should finally be completed. But now a last resistance to opinion is rearing its head: Even the daily topics (source: Kerstin Palzer, Das Erste, March 7th, 2023) spoke out in a comment against the final phase-out of nuclear energy. Reason: The higher electricity costs, which would allegedly result from the shutdown of the last nuclear reactors, intensified the ubiquitous energy crisis.
Stefan Krauter, Professor of “Electrical Energy Technology (EET)” at the University of Paderborn, contradicts: Even today, in times of high feed-in of renewable energies, the German nuclear power plants do not (any longer) contribute to lower electricity prices. A comparison with French nuclear power plants would show that these in turn would be heavily subsidised. Apart from the high construction costs for new nuclear power plants, few final storage sites for radioactive fuel rods and the safety issue (Fukushima/Chernobyl), nuclear power plants are incompatible with fluctuating green electricity anyway. In short: It is very difficult to control. In addition, the production of green hydrogen is not a realistic option, since electrolysers and fuel cells are still too unprofitable and ineffective.
According to Krauter’s research on “sustainable energy concepts for the energy transition”, the green energy mix of sun, wind, water, biogas and geothermal energy will be sufficient to cover 100% of Germany’s electricity needs in just 10-15 years. This requires a massive expansion of renewable energy, power grids (routes) and storage capacities (including batteries). There would also be sector coupling, which would also enable energy savings.
