This year should go down in the history of energy generation as a year of progress: in 2022 Germany wants to finally phase out nuclear power. However, the energy crisis as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has brought this decision up for debate again. At the latest, the Fukushima disaster in 2011 revealed the risks, the technology may not be completely controllable. What remains is radioactive waste, tens of thousands of tons, there is no clear plan for storage.
Another risk is the dismantling of nuclear power plants, which will take decades and cost Germany many billions of euros. And then there are countries like France in the immediate vicinity that are sticking to nuclear power. 13 of the 27 EU countries continue to operate nuclear power plants, and some are expanding. A nuclear nightmare?
The approximately 90-minute film “Atomic Power Forever” by Carsten Rau, which ARD showed on Wednesday evening as part of the “Documentary Film in the First” series, now attempted to paint as broad a picture of nuclear energy as possible. No matter how you twist and turn this picture: it doesn’t look good. Even if old advertising films, which are repeatedly integrated into the documentation, predicted a bright future. “Inexpensive and environmentally friendly” is the new energy. Today we know better.
Rau wove six episodes together for his comprehensive look at the nuclear problem. Among other things, he takes viewers on the search for a suitable repository. The requirements are tough: it has to survive a million years and the next ten ice ages. The French nuclear industry is also discussed. Here the German phase-out of nuclear power is mocked as “ridiculous”.
A look at Greifswald reveals how much effort it takes to demolish a gigantic nuclear power plant. Where the “advanced electrification of the country” was once announced in GDR times, room by room is now being decontaminated. “What we do here is not just any job,” says nuclear engineer Jörg Meyer. He emphasizes a “particular hazard potential” due to the radioactivity.
No reason for Meyer to lose his sense of humor. “Our radiation protection master’s eyes lit up,” he jokes on the phone. At some point there should be a green meadow on this huge area, nothing more reminiscent of the nuclear power plant. Until then, the dismantling will cost 5.6 billion euros, and it will take at least 33 years. The dismantling of all 17 German nuclear power plants means a total of four million tons of irradiated material.
“Atomic Power Forever” also looks beyond national borders. “When I see how many nuclear power plants are being built worldwide, it would really be a shame if we got out of this area,” declared Angela Merkel in 2009. Even if she revised her opinion on nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster and promoted the phase-out, the first part of the quote is still valid today.France, for example, as the largest nuclear state on the continent, generates three quarters of its electricity in this way.
At the Cadarache nuclear research center in southern France, work is currently being done on new, CO2-free energies. “In view of the high world population, we will need all CO2-free energies, including nuclear energy,” says one responsible person. The energy is not “clean” – keyword here too: nuclear waste – and safety must also be improved, he concedes. But it’s not all black and white: Nuclear power generates CO2-free electricity. Without this technology, fossil-based power plants have to supply it until renewable energies are expanded.
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The original of this article “ARD documentary shows the whole dilemma of nuclear phase-out” comes from Teleschau.
