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The decision to close the three facilities came before the use of atomic energy stopped for a decade.
On Friday, Germany will shut down half of its six nuclear power plants that are still in operation, a year before the country pulls out its last curtain on the use of atomic energy for decades.
The decision to phase out nuclear energy and the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy was first adopted by Gerhard Schroeder’s center-left government in 2002.
Her successor, Angela Merkel, reversed her decision to extend her life in Germany nuclear power plants In Japan, in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, 2022 was set as the deadline for closing them.
The three reactors that are now shutting down were first turned on in the mid-1980s. Together they provided electricity to millions of German homes for nearly four decades.
One of the plants – Brokdorf, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Hamburg on the Elbe River – became the focal point of the anti-nuclear protests sparked by the Chernobyl catastrophe of the Soviet Union in 1986.
The other two plants are Grohnde, about 40 kilometers south of Hanover, and Grundremmingen, 80 kilometers west of Munich.
Some Germans have called for a reconsideration of the decision to end the use of nuclear energy, as the plants already in operation produce little carbon dioxide. defenders of atomic energy He argued that it could help Germany meet its climate change targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But the German government said this week that the closure of all nuclear power plants next year and the gradual elimination of coal use by 2030 will not affect the country’s energy security or its goal of making Europe’s largest economy “climate neutral” by 2045.
“By massively increasing renewable energy and accelerating the expansion of the electricity grid, we can show that this is possible in Germany,” said Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck.
Many German residents have run out of nuclear power or have announced plans to do so, but others continue with the technology. This has raised concerns about a nuclear rupture in Europe, with France planning to build new reactors and Germany having chosen natural gas as a “bridge” until sufficient renewable energy is available, arguing that both sides prefer sustainable energy sources.
The remaining three nuclear power plants in Germany – Emsland, Isar and Neckarwestheim – will be shut down by the end of 2022.
Although some jobs will be lost, the RWE service company said more than two-thirds of Gundremming’s 600 nuclear power plant employees will continue to be involved in post-blackout operations by 2030. German nuclear companies will receive nearly $ 3 billion for the early closure of their plants.
Environment Minister Steffi Lemke has ruled out suggestions that a new generation of nuclear power plants could push Germany to change course again.
“Nuclear power plants continue to be high-risk facilities that generate highly radioactive atomic waste,” he told Funke media group this week.
The final decision is yet to be made on where to store tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste generated at German power plants. Experts say some materials will remain dangerous for 35,000 generations.
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