Bundestag: Dismantling of nuclear power plants will not be stopped

Just under a year after the last nuclear power plants in Germany were shut down, the German Bundestag has rejected a CDU/CSU motion to stop the dismantling of nuclear power plants. The coalition parties and the Left Party voted against the motion, while the CDU/CSU and AfD voted in favor.

On April 15, 2023, "Isar 2", "Neckarwestheim 2" and "Emsland" were the last three German nuclear power plants to be shut down. Together, they generated an output of 4.3 GW. The CSU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag still considers this decision by the federal government to be a mistake. It therefore demanded that the federal government issue an instruction to impose a moratorium on the dismantling of the three most recently shut-down nuclear power plants until a newly elected federal government can decide whether to restart them "in light of the current situation".

During the Bundestag debate on the motion on Wednesday, Steffen Bilger (CDU) explained that electricity prices remained too high, as did the dependence on foreign countries. The shutdown was harmful to the climate and Germany was showing a lack of solidarity towards its neighbors. In contrast, 30 countries had committed to expanding nuclear power. Bilger's parliamentary group colleague Andreas Lenz added that Germany imported more electricity than it exported in 2023 for the first time in a long time. An argument taken up by his parliamentary group colleague Thomas Jarzombek. It was questionable where the required renewable energies could be installed in terms of area alone.

"Promoting fusion technology"

Continued operation of nuclear power plants would contribute to better security of supply, greater competitiveness through lower electricity prices, it could preserve industrial jobs and ensure effective climate protection, the CDU/CSU say in their motion. The parliamentary group also called on the Federal Government to promote fusion technology and thus build up a new industry. Fusion power plants would no longer pose the risk of chain reactions and would not produce nuclear waste that would radiate for a long time.

Carsten Träger (SPD) spoke of the "fairy tale of cheap nuclear energy", saying that it could only be operated with massive state investment. In addition, all former nuclear power plant operators had abandoned the technology. Over its entire life cycle, nuclear power causes more CO₂ than renewable energies, and there is still the problem of waste disposal. Nuclear power is also not reliable, as the example of France shows. Half of the nuclear power plants there were temporarily shut down for maintenance work in 2022.

In contrast to the opposition, Träger's party colleague Robin Mesarosch saw security of supply as guaranteed, also referring to the example of France. Coal-fired power generation is now at its lowest level since 1959. In their motion, the CDU and CSU talk about things that are either outdated or do not yet exist, such as nuclear fusion.

"Nuclear fusion is a billion-dollar grave"

Harald Ebner from the Greens emphasized the high-risk potential of nuclear power, as shown by the example of the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia. The fuel comes mainly from Kazakh, Russian and Chinese sources. The new EPR in Flamanville in France will cost six times as much as planned, and the new British reactor in Hinkley Point is also a risk for investors. Nuclear fusion has so far been a billion-dollar grave. Bernhard Herrmann (Greens) emphasized that the three nuclear power plants in question were last thoroughly checked for safety 16 years ago. Restarting them would probably be expensive, as renewable energies were pushing prices down.

Stephan Seiter (FDP) agreed with the CDU/CSU parliamentary group that knowledge about nuclear fission must be preserved. On the demand to promote nuclear fusion, Seiter referred to the government's one billion euro research program. A moratorium on the dismantling of nuclear power plants would mean a standstill and therefore uncertainty for the economy.In contrast to Germany with its "random energies", France does not need an expensive expansion of the electricity grids, nor does it need a hydrogen core network or large-scale electricity storage, said Rainer Krafft from the AfD. French electricity customers would also not have to pay for excess electricity costs. In addition, more CO₂ would be emitted by phasing out nuclear power.

Since the last German nuclear power plants were shut down, CO₂ emissions from electricity generation in Germany have fallen, reports the environmental protection organization Greenpeace. In the period up to mid-March, this had fallen by 24%, as SPD MP Mesarosch also pointed out during the debate. Greenpeace cites the growth in renewable energies as the reason for the decline, while at the same time electricity volumes from fossil energy sources have fallen: Lignite by minus 29 percent, hard coal by minus 47 percent and natural gas by minus 5 percent. The demand for electricity fell by one percent compared to the previous year.

(anw)