Germany shuts down last nuclear power plants, some scientists aghast
16 April 2023, Baden-Württemberg, Neckarwestheim: The Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant. The era of commercial power generation with nuclear power plants in Germany came to an end on Saturday with the separation of the Isar 2, Neckarwestheim and Emsland nuclear power plants from the power grid.
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As of Sunday, April 16, Germany is no longer producing any electricity from nuclear power plants.
Closure of the Emsland, Isar II, and Neckarwestheim II nuclear power plants in Germany was expected. The country announced plans phase out nuclear power 2011. In the fall of 2022, with the Ukraine war constraining access to energy especially in Europe, Germany decided to keep these existing nuclear reactors operating for an additional few months to bolster supplies.
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“This was a highly anticipated action. The German government extend the lifetimes of these plants for a few months, but never planned beyond that,” David Victor, a professor of innovation and public policy at UC San Diego, told CNBC.
Responses to the news ranged from aghast that Germany would shut down a clean source of energy production while global response to anthropogenic climate change continues to be insufficient, to celebratory that Germany will avoid any nuclear accidents such as those that have happened in other parts of the world.
‘The whole thing is incomprehensible’
A collection of esteemed scientists, including two Nobel Laureates and professors from the likes of MIT and Columbia, made a last-minute plea to keep the German nuclear reactors operating in an open letter published on April 14 on the nuclear advocacy group’s website, RePlaneteers.
“In view of the threat that climate change poses to life on our planet and the obvious energy crisis in which Germany and Europe find themselves due to the unavailability of Russian natural gas, we call on you to continue operating the last remaining German nuclear power plants,” the letter states.
The Emsland, Isar II and Neckarwestheim II nuclear power plants provided more than 10 million German households with electricity, the open letter states. That’s a quarter of the population.
“This is hugely disappointing, when a secure low carbon 24/7 source of energy such as nuclear was available and could have continued operation for another 40 years,” Henry Preston, spokesperson for the World Nuclear Association, told CNBC. “Germany’s nuclear industry has been world class. All three of those reactors shutdown at the weekend performed extremely well,” Preston told CNBC.
16 April 2023, Lower Saxony, Lingen: View of the defunct cooling tower of the Emsland nuclear power plant. With the separation of the Isar 2, Neckarwestheim and Emsland nuclear power plants from the power grid, the era of commercial power generation with nuclear power plants in Germany came to an end on Saturday.
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Even as the reactors shut down, some segments of…
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