Status: 04/17/2023 04:46 a.m
The German nuclear power plants are out, but Prime Minister Söder wants to continue operating Isar 2 under state responsibility. He gets a lot of criticism for it – also from the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management. But Söder also receives support.
With his request to the federal government to create legal conditions for a possible continued operation of the Isar 2 nuclear power plant, which was shut down at the weekend, under state responsibility, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder met with broad rejection. Politicians from the traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP and representatives of the Left Party rejected the CSU leader’s initiative, as did the President of the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE). Support came only from the CDU.
“It is downright depressing how a Prime Minister so carelessly ignores licensing and constitutional issues and aspects of nuclear safety,” said Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. “According to the Basic Law, responsibility for nuclear power lies with the federal government. That’s why the states can only monitor nuclear power plants on behalf of the federal government.” The Greens politician added: “Even if you want to bring the reactor back online, as Mr. Söder obviously wants, it is not enough to legally grant it a new term. It would require a new license for the reactor.”
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai made it clear in the “Rheinische Post” that the FDP had sympathy for longer nuclear power plant operations. However, he also said in the direction of Söder: “Until a law for the federalization of electricity generation from nuclear energy was passed, he would probably have changed his mind again.” As Bavarian Environment Minister, Söder pushed ahead with the nuclear phase-out. FDP Vice Johannes Vogel made a similar statement. “Markus Söder changes his positions like underpants,” said Vogel on the ARD program Anne Will.
“With a zigzag course you lose credibility”
The parliamentary manager of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast, said that after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, Söder had threatened to resign if the coalition stuck to nuclear power. “Now he’s demanding the opposite. With such a zigzag course you lose credibility,” she told the “Rheinische Post”.
Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) also criticized Söder’s idea: “Anyone who wants to transfer responsibility for the operation of nuclear power plants to state sovereignty must then also secure final storage in their state alone,” Ramelow wrote on Twitter.
Yesterday, the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) also criticized the Bavarian demand that nuclear power plants that had been shut down continue to be operated under state responsibility. Söder’s demands underlined “how important it is that the political responsibility for nuclear safety in Germany lies with the federal government,” President Wolfram König told the dpa news agency. “The Bundestag and all federal states, including Bavaria, have not only agreed to phase out nuclear energy, but have also initiated the search for a repository based on scientific criteria.” Bavaria’s required special route contradicts applicable law and endangers the search for a repository.
Söder for continued operation of the nuclear power plant in state government
The last three remaining German nuclear power plants were shut down late on Saturday evening, including Isar 2 in Bavaria. In the “Bild am Sonntag” Söder renewed his demand to change the Atomic Energy Act again and to give the federal states the responsibility so that the reactor can continue to operate on its own. “As long as the crisis does not end and the transition to renewables does not succeed, we must use every form of energy by the end of the decade,” said Söder. Bavaria also wants to be a pioneer in nuclear fusion research. Söder spoke out in favor of building its own research reactor – “gladly in cooperation with other countries”.
He only received support for his initiative from the CDU. Union faction vice Jens Spahn wrote on Twitter that pragmatic solutions are now needed. “If Bavaria is willing to take on the political and technical responsibility for continued operation, the federal government should make this possible,” he emphasized. The parliamentary manager of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei, told the “Rheinische Post” that giving up nuclear energy was a wrong decision. “It is therefore right and an expression of his responsibility as Prime Minister that Markus Söder considers all possibilities to avert this gross mistake after all.”