Goodbye to the German core hurts

A year ago, Germany decommissioned the last three nuclear power plants in the country. “Not one of the horror scenarios came true,” Habeck is now enjoying. “Today we see that electricity supplies are still secured, electricity prices have fallen even after the end of nuclear energy, and CO₂ emissions are also falling,” adds the Green politician.

But is it really true? asks the newspaper Bild.

“One thing is clear, although it is difficult to quantify it precisely: If the nuclear power plants continued to operate, the electricity prices in Germany would be lower than at present,” argues Professor Manuel Frondel of the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research.

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Economy

In times of high demand for electricity but lack of supply from renewable sources due to the effects of windy and sunny weather, nuclear plants would have a strong dampening effect on the price of electricity, while in times of plenty of wind and sun there is almost no dampening effect.

“The shutdown of nuclear power plants in recent years means a clear loss of prosperity for Germany in the order of billions,” Frondel has no doubt.

In her analysis, Professor Veronika Grimm from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg assumes that electricity costs will not decrease in the coming years, despite falling production costs, but will rise slightly until 2040.

For the first time since 2002, the Federal Republic will again become a net importer of electricity in 2023. It imported 12 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) more electricity than it exported. In 2022, Germany still exported 29 billion kWh net.

“Instead of producing cheap nuclear power ourselves, we now import more and more electricity from abroad, paradoxically often including nuclear power from France,” says Frondel.

However, the Ministry of Economy sees no cause for concern. “With the expansion of renewable energy sources, conventional power plants will be used less and less at home and abroad, due to the interconnection of European markets. This will reduce the import of electricity into Germany and increase the export of electricity from Germany,” Bildu said.

Germany decided to end nuclear energy in 2011 after the accident at the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima. The declared reasons were mainly security. The country is primarily looking for a replacement in renewable resources.

This step does not have a negative effect on emissions, which have fallen massively in Germany – according to the Federal Office for the Environment, by approximately ten percent.

However, Frondel is skeptical about this as well. “The main reason is economic weakness and the reduction of production in industry due to still high energy prices,” he says. Even the green lobby group Agora Energiewende admits: “Reducing emissions is largely not a success of climate policy”.

Impact on the community

The end of nuclear energy also has an impact on the residents of the vicinity of the decommissioned power plants.

Eighty-eight-year-old former nuclear power plant director Hans Wiedemann is one of the many residents of Neckarwestheim who mourn the loss of nuclear power. “They shut down the first reactor. The moment my life’s work was destroyed,” he mourned a year ago on April 15 as he looked out his living room window at the nuclear power plant in the valley before midnight.

The end of nuclear power means that the prosperity of the village with 4,400 inhabitants in Baden-Württemberg has taken its toll, writes Bild.

Photo: Profimedia.cz

On May 22, 2023, Andre Knapp, head of operations at the Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant, stands in the reactor building of the second unit next to the decay pool, which no longer contains any fuel rods.

Mayor Jochen Winkler (not pictured) shows the remnants of the old days in the renovated splendor of the old school building, extensively converted for the needs of a senior citizens’ association, adult education center and cultural events. “It cost about a million euros. Back then, such projects were not a problem for the municipality,” says the mayor.

“Every year, the power plant brought five to ten million euros (approx. 126 to 253 million crowns) to the municipal coffers through trade tax. We fear that this amount will decrease by 90 percent in the next two to three years,” he points out.

With the current annual budget of 20 million euros (505.3 million crowns) it’s a big loss. For the residents of Neckarwestheim, this means up to two thousand euros (approx. 50 thousand crowns) less per head. “Before, we were faced with the question of what we could afford. Today, the question is whether we can afford anything at all,” adds Winkler.

The castle is also withering

At first glance, it seems that everything is still in order: a foundation financed by the operator of the nuclear power plant gives every citizen an annual pass to six neighboring swimming pools for 25 euros (632 crowns). But there are also known problems.

In the past, for example, the municipality bought the Liebenstein castle, which was supposed to function as a hotel and restaurant with a beer garden.

“We invested 15 million euros in it. However, in order to save on operating costs in the future, we had to rent it out,” says Winkler, noting that the tenant filed for bankruptcy last summer and the beautiful beer garden in the castle’s courtyard is lying idle. There is no longer even a reception in the castle, and to book a room in the castle hotel you need to reserve an access code on the Internet.

Myriam Pellegrini (36) runs a hair salon in the center of Neckarwestheim: “I practically grew up with the power plant. They could have left her in service. “Due to declining tax revenues, the future of the city’s infrastructure is mainly for seniors and families,” he does not hide his opinion.

Farmer Markus Beckbissinger (46) lives with his wife and four children in close proximity to the power plant. In the neighboring town of Gemmrigheim, also threatened by the loss of tax revenue, he sits on the local council for the CDU Christian Democrats.

“The school cannot be repaired as originally intended. I am not against switching to non-fossil sources, I am currently having photovoltaics installed on my roof. But the power plant could have continued to operate…,” he complains.

Meanwhile, Wiedemann is drinking his red wine in the village pub. The hostess serves him a meat plate for 9.90 euros. The former head of the power plant looks around the pub in annoyance: “The shutdown of the nuclear power plants was a terrible sin for which our children and grandchildren will pay bitterly,” he prophesies.