Germany confirms its attachment to nuclear energy to face the energy crisis. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced on Tuesday September 27 that two German nuclear power plants would remain operational during the winter of 2023, due to the unavailability of many French reactors. To ensure the energy supply in Germany, “the Isar 2 power plant (near Munich) and that of Neckarwestheim (south-west) will remain connected in the first quarter of 2023”Due to “the situation in France is worse than expected”he said at a press conference in Berlin.
The environmental minister is thus going further than what was planned a few weeks ago: on September 5, he announced that he wanted to keep these two power stations on standby until spring 2023, and use them last. recourse only, in the event of an energy emergency.
Statements from EDF “often too positive”
But, based on electricity scenarios for the winter in France, presented on September 14, Robert Habeck estimated that the situation was worse than what had been expected so far. Driving the point home, he claimed that “in the past, the statements of the operator EDF had often turned out to be too positive”.
The decision to extend these two German power stations confirms the volte-face already made on September 5 by the environmental minister, whose party is historically deeply anti-nuclear. Robert Habeck then returned to their final closure scheduled for the end of 2022, according to a nuclear phase-out schedule decided by Angela Merkel after the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011.
