Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) insists that the German nuclear power plants are subjected to a safety check before they continue to operate after the end of the year. That would mean shutting down and shutting down the nuclear power plants for several months from January and would also apply to a shorter so-called stretch operation.
“The last periodic security check took place in 2009 – and should have been carried out again in 2019 according to EU requirements,” said the minister to the editorial network Germany (RND/Saturday). In the current nuclear phase-out law of the CDU/CSU and FDP, the end of the term is set for December 31, 2022 and that is the only reason why the review for the three-year remaining term was suspended, according to Lemke. “So it was an exception. And because the test was suspended for so long, it would have to be made up for if the term was extended.”
Despite the fact that the checks will take several months and the nuclear power plants would be shut down this winter, Lemke considers the check to be essential. “It is necessary to ensure the safe operation of the nuclear power plants. Unrecognized security deficits can be uncovered during such security checks,” she told RND. This has not happened in the German nuclear power plants for 13 years. “Therefore, such a check would have to be carried out first if you wanted to extend the term.”
Lemke, whose ministry is also responsible for reactor safety and nuclear waste disposal, does not assume that the federal government alone could prevent the shutdown for several months to review the nuclear power plants: “The exception ends on December 31, 2022,” she said. “If there should be an extension, the Atomic Energy Act must be changed for it. Only the Bundestag can do that.”
The Minister for the Environment also fears that the search for a nuclear waste repository will be made more difficult if the term is extended: “I have not yet met anyone who would like a repository in their district,” said Lemke. “Of course, a service life extension would make this readiness more difficult – at least if new fuel elements were procured. Because that would significantly change the amount of nuclear waste to be stored.”
