Says Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection Steffi Lemke: “The nuclear phase-out makes our country safer and helps prevent radioactive waste. Since 2011, Germany has been using an orderly, reliable process to draw a line under what is a highly problematic technology. Both the energy industry and consumers have been able to benefit from this planned and reliable process. I would like to thank the thousands of people who have untiringly campaigned for the nuclear phase-out and the energy transition, and the staff of the nuclear power stations for their responsible handling of the operations and the dismantling process.”

Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action says: “Germany’s nuclear phase-out is agreed, set out clearly in statute, and is now happening. Security of supply in Germany continues to be guaranteed. Now it is time to rigorously pursue the transformation of our energy system. A secure supply of electricity from sustainable sources is a key requirement for us to be able to steer our economy and our industrial sector towards climate neutrality and to usher in sustainable prosperity. We will demonstrate that this is possible in Germany, by massively expanding the use of renewables and speeding up the expansion of the grid.”

The expedited nuclear phase-out was agreed by broad consensus in 2011, which led to a reversal of the extension of the lifetime of nuclear power plants which had been granted a year earlier. The radioactive waste that has been prevented by this decision would have filled some 500 CASTOR containers. The last nuclear power plants to go off-grid under the Atomic Energy Act are Emsland, Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2, which all have to be powered down by 31 December 2022.

In recent years, Germany has further increased the reliability of its electricity supply system, which is very high by international standards. The nuclear phase-out will not change this. This has been shown by the Bundesnetzagentur in its figures on the SAIDI values (System Average Interruption Duration Index) and in the reports on supply security published by the Economic Affairs Ministry. Furthermore, the system used to monitor security of supply has seen continuous development and improvement over recent years.

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection regards its work towards the nuclear phase-out as being far from completed. It has still to see to the safe completion of the phase-out, including the dismantling of reactors, the search for a final repository for high-level radioactive waste, and must also deliver permanent solutions for weak and medium-level radioactive waste.

Further information (in German only)
[1] Positionspapier „12 Punkte für die Vollendung des Atomausstiegs“
https://www.bmu.de/download/12-punkte-fuer-die-vollendung-des-atomausstiegs/

[2] FAQ Ausstieg aus der Kernkraft
https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/themen/energiewende/energie-erzeugen/ausstieg-aus-der-kernkraft-394280

[3] Bericht zur Versorgungssicherheit an den Strommärkten:
https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/DE/Publikationen/Studien/angemessenheit-der-ressourcen-an-den-europaeischen-strommaerkten.html