The conflict in Ukraine has precipitated debates around nuclear energy, at a time when the energy crisis threatens European economies. This is the case, for example, in Germany, which will not shut down its last nuclear power plant as planned.
Faced with the crisis, Germany is keeping its last power station for the moment
The Chancellor therefore decided and arbitrated the debate. Germany will finally extend the operation of its third and last nuclear power plant: the announcement was made Monday, October 17 in the evening by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. For several days, the debate had been raging between the three coalition partners. The Greens, the liberals of the FDP and the SPD of Olaf Scholz were divided on the solution to bring to face the energy crisis born from the conflict in Ukraine.
Emsland, in northern Germany, whose activity was to stop on December 31, will be extended until April 15, a decision taken by Olaf Scholz in a context where Germany, now deprived of imports of Russian gas, tries to deal with the crisis. Originally, the coalition had planned to keep only two of the last three power stations in the country in operation until the spring: Isar 2 near Munich and Neckarwestheim 2, in the west. But the executive realized that this would not be enough: in Germany, nuclear power provides 6% of energy consumption. This decision amounts to pushing back by four and a half months the nuclear exit date set by former Chancellor Angela Merkel, from December 31 to April 15.
These choices are particularly complicated to digest for the Greens, forced into renunciations that they were certainly far from imagining a year ago when they joined the coalition. The war in Ukraine had already forced them to accept arms deliveries to Ukraine and the consequent increase in the budget of the German army. It was already a big step for the environmentalist party, which took another: the Grünen, whose opposition to the atom is rooted in their genes, gave their agreement to the extension of two of the last three German power stations, a decision taken so as not to jeopardize Germany’s energy supply. For the party, it was the maximum acceptable: no question of going further… Olaf Scholz’s decision to extend the third power station is therefore a snub for the party and a small victory for the other partners of the coalition, the FDP Liberals, who wanted to go further and keep the three plants in operation until 2024.
There are however some, within the Greens, who find it difficult to accept this about-face on the nuclear issue. Thus, when the Minister of the Green Economy Robert Habeck welcomes this step forward, just to digest this compromise, the militants of the party, especially the youngest moreover, cry treason. Many criticize the party for its shifting positions and criticize the lack of guidelines. As if the most important thing for the Greens was to save their place in a coalition that is finding it increasingly difficult to agree on the issues that emerged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In Sweden, the new government is relaunching the sector
The new right-wing government in Sweden has announced that it wants to relaunch the nuclear industry, a reversal for the country which has closed six out of twelve power plants in a few decades. The end of the atom had been decided by referendum in 1980, but even if nuclear power in Sweden still represents a third of electricity production, the roadmap counted on 100% renewable energy by 2040 In other words, the revival of nuclear power is a major change of course taken by the current majority. But this year, with the explosion in electricity prices, some weak signals already indicated a change of direction: on the European taxonomy, for example, Sweden had voted, with France, to grant the sustainable label to nuclear . The previous social-democratic government, thanks to the departure of the Greens from the coalition, had approved the construction of a landfill site for highly radioactive waste… Sweden is thus following the path of Finland, which was the first in the world to start to build such a final disposal site.
Finland starts up the most powerful reactor in Europe
In Finland, precisely, the most powerful reactor in Europe has just been started, after twelve years of delay, and additional costs which have increased the bill from three and a half billion to around eleven billion euros. The start-up last month of the EPR reactor at Olkiluoto, located on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia, is however timely since electricity deliveries from Russia have stopped, and Finland had already been forced to to operate standby oil-fired power plants last month. Built by the Franco-German consortium Areva-Siemens, this latest-generation reactor alone produces 20% of the electricity consumed in Finland. If we add the two existing reactors, the plant contributes 40% of national production, which is to say that the site is vital.
The Finnish energy company, Fortum, has also announced that it plans to build two SMRs, small reactors, for Sweden and Finland. A feasibility study which will last two years should make it possible to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of this technology compared to conventional reactors.