Germany before nuclear phase-out: Nuclear risks remain

Even with the definitive farewell to nuclear power, risks remain for Germany. For example by asking: where to put the nuclear waste? And by the fact that several neighbors continue to rely on nuclear energy.

With a delay of three and a half months due to the energy crisis, the last three nuclear power plants in Germany will finally go offline on Saturday. But the risks associated with the use of nuclear power have not yet been overcome with the nuclear phase-out, German authorities warn.

Wolfram König, President of the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE), warned that the “nuclear energy chapter” could not be closed for future generations either. He cites the radioactive waste as the main reason – the result of decades of operation of German nuclear power plants.

1900 castor containers full of nuclear waste

According to the managing director of the Federal Agency for Disposal (BGE), Steffen Kanitz, it is about 1900 castor containers in currently 16 interim storage facilities, each of them weighing about 100 tons. And a safe location would have to be found for all of them to store them. “Disposal in deep geological layers still offers the safest solution,” says König.

The search for a repository has been going on for years and was originally supposed to be completed by 2031. But in November, the BGE announced that the search would take much longer: at least until 2046, but in another scenario even until 2068.

And in addition to the high-level radioactive waste, according to BASE President König, there are around 600,000 cubic meters of so-called low-level and medium-level radioactive waste that must be disposed of safely. König is therefore of the opinion that Germany has “at least another 60 years ahead of us, which we will need for the dismantling and the long-term safe storage of the legacies”.

“Must continue to be prepared for any emergencies”

The President of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), Inge Paulini, sees the remaining risks not only in Germany, but also near its borders. There are nuclear power plant sites in seven neighboring countries that are less than 100 kilometers from the German border. “We must therefore continue to be prepared for any emergencies,” warned Paulini. And the catastrophe at the Japanese power plant Fukushima in March 2011 showed that nuclear power could pose an incalculable risk even for highly developed industrial societies.

At the same time, however, Paulini emphasized that security in Germany would increase as a result of the nuclear phase-out. Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke also emphasized the same thing, but also admitted that “the risks of nuclear power are ultimately unmanageable”. The Greens politician also spoke of decades full of challenges “until we have safely and responsibly removed the nuclear legacy.”

The Isar 2, Neckarwestheim 2 and Emsland nuclear power plants are to be shut down permanently on Saturday. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck assured that the secure supply of energy would remain guaranteed even after the nuclear phase-out. “Together we have managed to keep the filling levels in the gas storage tanks high and to set up new liquid gas terminals on the north German coasts,” he emphasized, again emphasizing the goal of generating around 80 percent of the electricity required nationwide from renewable energies by 2030.