BRIEFING Friday, 14 Apr 2023
Nuclear 
controversy flares up 
as Germany shuts down last reactors The decade-long debate about the the role of nuclear power in Germany flared up for a last time before the remaining three reactors are shut down on Saturday 15 April. Politicians from government coalition party FDP and the opposition came out against the phase-out, which is also viewed with scepticism by some scientists, parts of industry, and many citizens. Government ministers countered that the calls for revisiting the nuclear exit decision during the technology's final week of operation were mainly politically motivated, as power supply security, price stability and the climate targets would not be negatively affected by the phase-out that was agreed in a broad political consensus.
The Grohnde nuclear power plant was decommissioned in late 2021. Image by Preussen Elektra.https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/nuclear-controversy-flares-germany-shuts-down-last-reactorsThe challenges of Germany’s nuclear phase-outWith the shutdown of the three last reactors in April 2023, the era of nuclear power generation comes to an end in Germany. The decommissioning marks a key milestone of the nuclear phase-out, a controversial and highly politicised process that took more than two decades to prepare and will take several more decades before being fully completed. The European energy crisis following Russia's war on Ukraine had afforded the technology a last runtime extension of three months to support electricity production and caused a last-minute uproar by proponents of the technology, who argue the phase-out is ill-timed and will exacerbate challenges in energy security and emissions reduction. However, the German government decided to go through with the nuclear exit as planned after the extension has ended. The future of nuclear power in the country is now likely to be be dominated by the long and arduous process of dismantling all of the country's reactors and deciding on a final repository where radioactive waste can be stored for thousands of generations. This dossier compiles articles and factsheets on Germany's nuclear exit decision, the difficulties and technicalities of decommissioning the closed-down plants and the huge task of storing the radioactive waste generated in the past 60 years.[UPDATE 14 April, 2023]
