Status: 04/17/2023 8:34 p.m
The nuclear power plants are shut down. But Bavaria’s Prime Minister Söder suddenly wants nothing more to do with it – and continues to operate the power plants himself. How realistic is that?
“Get involved, get involved, whenever it’s about Bavaria,” affirmed Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder after the CSU board meeting and repeated his suggestion from the weekend: “We offer to keep nuclear power running for a few years.” In Bavaria, so alone.
Shutting down the nuclear power plants is “a serious mistake” that would cause lasting damage to Germany, a “stubborn decision against the majority of the population,” claims Söder.
An “offer” to the federal government
So far, Söder’s initiative is not an elaborate plan, but an “offer” to the federal government, as he describes it himself. He wants to continue operating the Isar 2 nuclear power plant, which was shut down at the weekend, under state responsibility. The production of nuclear power in Bavaria is still possible for four to five years.
“The federal government refuses to take southern Germany’s energy supply seriously,” Söder explains his move. Bavaria needs alternatives to replace the nuclear power that is no longer available – such as new gas-fired power plants, but nothing has been offered. “We now expect a quick solution,” says the prime minister. Otherwise, Bavaria wants to advance its nuclear idea.
The legal regulation is clear
Legally, Söder’s project is likely to be extremely difficult. “Legally untenable”, describes lawyer Ulrich Wollenteit, Specialist in nuclear law, the push. “I can’t imagine that this is meant seriously,” said Wollenteit.
The legal regulation is clear: “The federal states carry out the Atomic Energy Act in federal order management.” If Bavaria wants to continue to run nuclear power plants on its own, this presupposes that the Atomic Energy Act is transferred from the federal administration to the state administration. “But you would have to change the Basic Law for that,” explains Wollenteit.
The Bonn nuclear law expert Philipp Bender also sees this as the biggest sticking point: A two-thirds majority is needed in the Bundestag and Bundesrat for the amendment to the Basic Law – and that is a long way off, according to Bender.
New permit for Isar 2?
In the unlikely event that the Basic Law is actually changed, there is one more question to be answered: Does Isar 2 need a new permit? Yes, says nuclear rights expert Wollenteit: “But since 2011 it has been illegal to issue new licenses.”
In addition, such a new permit only exists if the nuclear power plant meets the latest state of the art in science and technology. What was realized in the last three nuclear power plants that were shut down lags far behind. “Bavaria would therefore have to build a completely new power plant, such as the Finnish reactor that went online this weekend,” said Wollenteit.
However, the lawyers are divided on this question: nuclear law expert Bender does not believe that a new license is necessary. After all, only the power operation has now ended. This means that the system is no longer connected to the grid and is no longer allowed to produce electricity.
“But that doesn’t mean that the construction and operating license has expired. The nuclear power plant is still in operation – in the so-called post-operational phase,” explains Bender. According to Bender, the systems could technically be started up again, provided the federal government decides to do so.
But that only works as long as Isar 2 is not shut down and dismantled. Approval for this dismantling has yet to be granted by the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment, which is expected at the end of the year.
New security check required
Should Bayern really continue to operate Isar 2, it would need a new safety check. Although the nuclear power plants were constantly checked, the Atomic Energy Act usually provides for a special “periodic safety check” every ten years, a kind of risk analysis with a view to the future. This review was omitted in 2019 because nuclear power was supposed to end at the end of 2022.
“That’s why such a nuclear power plant is by no means a ticking time bomb. But if it’s going to be in operation for a longer period of time, the review should be repeated,” says nuclear law expert Bender. In addition, new fuel elements would probably also have to be procured.
The operator of Isar 2, Preußen Elektra, said goodbye BR-Restart Request: “We are now looking ahead and concentrating on preparing for the safe decommissioning of the facility.” The question of continued operation does not arise at the moment. “If there is a specific request from politicians, we will examine the possibilities,” said the operator.
Nuclear waste repository still not in sight
For decades, Bavaria’s state governments have been opposed to a nuclear waste repository coming to Bavaria. In Bavaria there is no suitable location for nuclear waste, but “good technical arguments that speak against it” – Markus Söder also insists on this. Deposits under granite rock are always under discussion – for example in the Bavarian Forest or in the Fichtelgebirge and other areas north of the Danube.
But wouldn’t the waste have to stay in Bavaria if Bavaria continued to operate a nuclear power plant on its own? Not necessarily, according to nuclear law expert Bender: “At least the current legal situation says: The federal government is also responsible for the search for a repository.” The whole thing is an all-German task. “If Bavaria would continue to operate nuclear power plants on its own, the search for a repository would still not be a purely Bavarian problem,” says Bender.