Union demands electricity stress test for winter 2023/24
Bavarian nuclear power plant Isar 2
© AFP
In view of the energy shortage, the Union is calling for the German electricity system to be subjected to another stress test and for the remaining nuclear power plants to be prepared for a further extension of their operating lives until 2024. “Just as the government did a stress test for this winter, it must also do one for next winter,” said deputy CDU chairman Andreas Jung to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Tuesday editions).
It must be examined in detail how the power supply can be guaranteed at all times. “As of now, one must assume that we will also need nuclear energy in the coming winter,” said Jung. “The experts warn that the coming winter could be even more critical than this one.”
The point is to mobilize all available capacities to avert emergencies. “It doesn’t make sense that the traffic light will reactivate climate-damaging coal piles at least until 2024, but definitely want to switch off the CO2-saving nuclear power plants in spring 2023,” said Jung.
The Greens in the Bundestag rejected all calls for a further extension of the terms. “Nuclear power is expensive and dangerous, which is why we will finally switch off the last nuclear power plants in Germany on April 15, 2023,” said parliamentary group leader Julia Verlinden to the Funke newspapers. “Any further attempt to bring an extension of running times into the debate with ever new flimsy justifications will fail and waste energy unnecessarily.”
Because of the energy crisis, the nuclear phase-out in Germany, which was actually planned for the turn of the year, was postponed by three and a half months to mid-April. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) made the decision after a long dispute between the Greens and the FDP.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) fueled the discussion with a new initiative: he told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Tuesday edition) that the question of a further extension of the service life should be decided by an independent commission of experts.
He wanted a professional answer to the question “how we can ensure a stable and affordable energy supply and at the same time achieve our climate protection goals,” said Wissing. “If we don’t want to discuss it politically, then we have to clarify it scientifically.”
