Should Germany keep nuclear power plants connected to the grid longer? The head of the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management is skeptical - as is Green Party veteran Trittin. If necessary, he wants to have a party congress decide on longer terms and sees "strange blossoms" in the summer slump.
The President of the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management, Wolfram König, speaks out against extended operating times for nuclear power plants in Germany. "Such an assessment would not only have to take into account the safety of the nuclear power plants, but also the disposal of the radioactive waste," writes König in an article for the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung". "In both cases, the costs to society as a whole for continued operation of the systems would be considerable," König pointed out. "The societal consensus that has been achieved with great difficulty would also be fundamentally questioned."
Koenig also has serious doubts about the timetable for the search for a site for a nuclear waste repository in Germany. According to the law, the decision for a repository site should be made by 2031, so that storage can begin from 2050. "My Federal Office has repeatedly reminded the company commissioned with the site search that the process is progressing, so that the legally stipulated timetable is adhered to. Another 20 years are to be expected before the repository is ready for operation," writes König. "Today I have to state that I no longer consider the goal of 2031 to be realistic."
Trittin wants to question the party
The former Federal Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin demands that, if necessary, a party conference of the Greens must decide on longer nuclear lifetimes and the controversial untying of the nuclear phase-out. "If you seriously want to change the Atomic Energy Act, you can't do that without a party congress," Trittin told the Tagesspiegel. "Whether that has to be a special party conference or whether we could do it at the regular one in October is another question."
The party left Trittin is clearly against any form of longer terms: "Even a stretching operation is a term extension. We have to change the Atomic Energy Act for this," said Trittin and emphasized: "We will not touch that." Otherwise, the FDP would hope to "negotiate everything possible together with the Union," Trittin warned of a door opener for a fundamental reversal of the nuclear phase-out planned for the end of 2022.
When he now reads that the Greens should finally commit to nuclear energy, or that Economics Minister Robert Habeck would only be chancellor if he says goodbye to the nuclear phase-out, he asks himself: "Yes, where do we live? So sometimes the summer slump gives birth to strange things Blossoms."
Due to fears of a stop to Russian gas supplies, a possible extension of the service lives of the last three nuclear power plants still in operation is currently being discussed. The three nuclear power plants Isar 2 in Bavaria, Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg and Emsland in Lower Saxony would have to go offline at the end of December according to current nuclear law. Now the possibility of a so-called stretching operation is in the room.
