Germany to keep two nuclear reactors on standby over winter

• 1 year, 7 months ago (2022-09-06)
• David Flin

Europe 1061 Nuclear 640

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Robert Habeck, Germany’s Economy Minister, has announced that Germany will keep two of its three remaining nuclear power stations on standby until April 2023, to ensure sufficient electricity supply through the winter. He said in a statement that this move did not mean the Government was reneging on its promise to exit nuclear power by the end of 2022, but that Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2 will remain available for operation for an extra year.

Habeck said that a stress test by power grid operators had shown that there could be hours of crisis in electricity supply over the winter given the situation in the energy market. He said: “It remains very improbable that we will have crisis situations and extreme scenarios. I have to do everything necessary to fully guarantee security of provision.”

Habeck said that the two plants would not be equipped with fresh fuel elements and the reserve was an option only.

While all three of Germany’s remaining plants will go offline by the end of 2022, Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2, each with 1400 MW capacity, will remain in reserve until mid-April 2023. The plants are operated by E.ON and EnBW respectively.