The fact that TÜV enjoys an extremely serious image among Germans must have played no small role in this order. “The one with the seal” is the ironic self-description of the most important German testing authority in an image film. It’s about “safety” and “trust” and the “big picture”, describes the TÜV its own work. Even with the thickest wall you can see behind the scenes. “There for you,” promises the monitoring association.
The auditors were also there this year for the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment. For the authority, the subsidiary TÜV Süd Industrie Service GmbH wrote an assessment of the extent to which a lifetime extension for the Isar 2 reactor is feasible at all. The result was clear. “From a safety point of view” there are “no concerns” about leaving the power plant connected to the grid beyond December 31, the phase-out date actually decided by law.
The system is continuously monitored, there are no indications that something could be wrong. And the fact that the major “periodic safety check”, which is due about every ten years, is actually overdue is also not a problem – the TÜV experts write that it can be done during ongoing operation. This is considered an important statement, because months of standstill would thwart the proponents’ goal of supplying stable electricity beyond December.
Söder’s argument is shaky
Bavaria’s state government has rarely left the expertise unmentioned when it came to longer nuclear lifetimes. For Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), it has become an important pillar of his argument. Especially since she also considers it technically possible to restart a block of the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant that has already been shut down.
But now the TÜV-supported chain of arguments is cracking: The Hamburg law firm Michael Günther accuses the TÜV of having delivered a “sloppily argued commissioned work” that “cannot be recognized as a serious assessment”. Rather, it was “intended for use as a weapon in the current discussion about extending the term in the political arena”. The statement was prepared on behalf of Greenpeace Germany and is Süddeutsche Zeitung before. There is a suspicion “that a courtesy report has been prepared here,” write the lawyers.
In Berlin government circles there is also criticism of the TÜV subsidiary’s paper. It is said that the only seven-page statement could not possibly serve as a justification for the technical feasibility of a lifetime extension. “Regardless of the condition and without checking the nuclear power plant, the result is already clear for the TÜV,” criticizes Heinz Smital, nuclear physicist and Greenpeace nuclear expert.
And how does Söder rate the report, which indirectly also doubts his political demands? When asked by the SZ, he was completely unimpressed. “A lawyer from Hamburg paid by Greenpeace wants to know better than the TÜV? There is no need to comment further on that,” says the Bavarian Prime Minister. Suddenly he sounds like his own critics, who also sense bias. Immediately after it became known, Bavaria’s SPD leader Florian von Brunn called the TÜV paper “politically colored”. At the latest now, with the new legal opinion, he sees himself confirmed, said von Brunn on Friday. On the other hand, the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment rejected the criticism of the auditors. “TÜV Süd is one of the most renowned experts and one of the most familiar with nuclear power issues,” said a spokesman.
Doubts from the energy sector
Even in the energy sector, people do not consider longer operation of their own power plants to be a given and refer to the handling of safety issues. The power plant can continue to be operated in its current state for a few weeks beyond the turn of the year, said the CEO of the energy group EnBW, Frank Mastiaux, with regard to the company’s own power plant in Neckarwestheim.
But there must be clarity about how to actually deal with the international standards for test methods, which provide for a revision every ten years, said Mastiaux. Because the investigation, which should have been due in 2019, had not taken place due to the planned shutdown. Standing still power plants would not help in the fight for energy security. In the case of Neckarwestheim, the fuel rods that have been charged so far can only be used for a few more weeks anyway, warns the EnBW boss. “But that’s it then.”