The operator of Isar 2, the company Preussen Elektra, wrote to the Ministry of Economics in a letter that was presented to the “Spiegel” newspaper – and the letter is a tough one.
“Sending two of the three running systems to the cold reserve at the turn of the year in order to start them up if necessary is technically not feasible and therefore unsuitable for securing the supply contribution of the systems,” writes Preussen-Elektra boss Guido Knott according to “Spiegel” in the letter to the ministry. In the stretching operation, “a flexible increase or reduction in performance is no longer possible.” The ministry was informed of this on August 25th.
In particular, once the system has been shut down – as envisaged according to Habeck – such a plan is hardly enforceable. “Then, with the limited possibilities of such a reactor core, a restart in the advanced stretching operation is not feasible, and certainly not at short notice within a week,” quotes the “Spiegel” from the letter.
Such a procedure has never been used before, Knott warns. “Testing a start-up procedure that has never been practiced before should not coincide with a critical state of the power supply.”
Die US-Bank JPMorgan Chase
Economics Minister Robert Habeck announced on Monday that two of the three nuclear power plants that are scheduled to go offline at the end of 2022 will remain as emergency reserves. But that doesn’t help in the short term, complains the TÜV boss.
Targeted changes in behavior could save around 30 terawatt hours of natural gas annually in private households in Germany. This corresponds to almost three percent of German consumption in 2021. Families of four could save 420 euros per year.
