The Last Deal with Nuclear Energy
How quickly the German nuclear exit can become a reality, even a glance at the remaining nuclear power plants shows. Seven batteries are still in operation in Germany. With Isar II, Emsland and Neckarwestheim II, the last of them will not leave the network until the end of 2022. However, some of the seven power plants could be shut down before the deadline for decommissioning, not to the satisfaction of operators for whom nuclear power is a good business. The energy companies want to keep the paid -off power plants on the grid for as long as possible.
What is causing problems for energy companies is a regulation in the Atomic Energy Act, which has set in motion the red -green Federal Government 2002. In addition to the final date of decommissioning, individual shut -down times and fixed quantities of electricity were agreed for all power plants, which they may still produce. For example, the milestones of the energy group Preussen Elektra.
The Lower Saxony plant could be closed long before the statutory shut -down period, but not if residual amounts of already disconnected batteries are transferred. Environmental organisations and politicians are once again criticising the practice. "This is a bending and shifting of the nuclear exit, although also a work in the agreed system," said Thorben Becker, a nuclear expert from the Federation for the Environment and Nature Protection (BUND). However, a faster exit was desired.
Sylvia Kotting -Uhl, chairman of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection, also has problems with the regulation. "Unfortunately, last year, the coalition rejected my request not to transfer any more (residual) electricity to Akw in the grid expansion area," said Green politician Mirror Background.
"Remaining flows and their transfers from older to younger nuclear power plants were already agreed in the first nuclear consensus between the Red -Green Federal Government and the operators of nuclear power plants in Germany," said Almut Zyweck, spokesperson for Preussen Elektra. The amendments to the Atomic Energy Act and the Federal Constitutional Court confirmed them.
In order to be able to operate power plants such as Grohnde for longer, a transfer from the milestones that were shut down shortly after the Fukushima 2011 reactor disaster is conceivable. The Federal Office for Nuclear Safety (BfE) is normally responsible for the approval of transfers.
Only recently, BfE approved a transfer of the remaining flows of Akw Unterweser, Grafenrheinfeld and Isar I to Akw Grohnde, a transfer within the same company. "For our company and its employees, the transfer of residual flows is of great importance in order to ensure the continued operation of the plants," says Zyweck.
Theme also landed 2018 in the Federal Council
BUND -Mann Thorben Becker sees a specific problem in the transfer of electricity volumes: an inhibition of the expansion of renewable energies. According to Becker, wind turbines would have to be regulated in the north for every strong -wind phase. This would be more difficult for nuclear power plants such as Brokdorf and Grohnde in northern Germany.
"This is a fundamental problem that will become even more acute," said Becker. "This does not exactly ensure acceptance." A regulation restricting the transfer, especially where the development of the renewable energy network is concerned, would have been useful in amending the nuclear law last year.
At national level, too, the practice had already ensured this. Last year, the Schleswig -Holstein Jamaica coalition established itself in order to prevent a transfer of the Meiler Brunsbatel and Krummel to Brokdorf. "A transfer of residual flows to Brokdorf would mean that renewable electricity would have to be regulated even longer," said Robert Habeck 2018, then Minister for the Environment in Schleswig -Holstein.
Last year, the national government also introduced the issue to the Federal Council. "It would be easy to optimise nuclear output and energy usage while at the same time relieving taxpayers and electricity customers. We urgently need such a reform,"said environmental politician Kotting -Uhl, today's mirror Background.
Preussen Elektra is suing Waterfall for the release of residual flows
But there is also a dispute about the transfer between energy companies. Preussen Elektra sued Vattenfall only in January for transmission of residual flows from the jointly operated battery. Unlike the most recent transfers of 4674 gigawatts authorised by BfE, these are larger residual flows.
The battery crumb still has capacity of 88.000 gigawatts. At the Akw Brunsbatel, which both energy groups also operate proportionally, there are about 11.000 gigawatts. Quantities from this battery are intended to ensure the continued operation from Grohnde to the end of 2021. Without a transmission, a shutdown is imminent in the autumn.
This is not the case with the southern German power plants of EnBW. The company informed on request that no effort was made to transfer residual flows from other batteries. Philippsburg II and Neckarwestheim II still have sufficient electricity available. RWE, on the other hand, had to spend nearly 40.000 gigawatts of disconnected batteries at the end of 2018, but still more than 10.000 gigawatts in the two own miles.
According to a spokesperson from Preussen Elektra, an out -of -court agreement with the paternity case failed not only on the economic conditions, but also on the question of ownership of the quantities of electricity. On request, a spokesperson on fatherhood said that serious efforts were being made to transfer the balancing amounts of electricity under appropriate conditions.
However, no data could be provided for internally. The Swedish company had recently complained to the World Bank International Arbitration Court about its nuclear withdrawal from the Federal Republic. Specifically, the decommissioning of the Brunsbatel and Krummel 2011 power plants. The Group calls for "fair compensation" for the financial loss.
Whether there will be further transfers of residual flows is not up to BfE alone. The proceedings of the energy giants Vattenfall and Preussen Elektra before the Landgericht Hamburg are not decided. Preussen Elektra expects a timely decision. "The urgency is obvious," says Zyweck.(徳囯ASK电容器)