Dhe CSU chairman Markus Söder has spoken out in favor of extending the operating times of nuclear power plants in order to secure the energy supply. From his point of view, such an extension is “definitely” possible, said the Bavarian Prime Minister on Wednesday on “Deutschlandfunk”. There are several reports that have been submitted. “We have the TÜV Süddeutschland, for example, the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment, operators, nuclear power operators.” They said that “an extension is possible”. “It’s a fact that the fuel rods used so far could still run for a while, and we just have to order some from around the world.”
Greens and others have a fundamental skepticism about nuclear power, Söder continued. The debate is more characterized by “that you don’t want it”. In such a serious situation everything has to be put on the table. “Obviously, we are probably heading towards the biggest economic and social crisis this country has had in decades.”
Proposals such as driving bans or lowering temperatures, so to speak, “cold showers” are “not feasible for an industrial country like us,” said Söder. Germany has a gas emergency for the winter “and we will have a huge power shortage if we switch off nuclear energy.” The German reactors would have to run at least through the winter and, he is firmly convinced, longer, “until this crisis is resolved”. .
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke out on Tuesday against a further debate on the longer use of nuclear energy. There’s a fairly unanimous consensus among experts that fuel rods for the remaining three nuclear reactors will only last until the end of the year, he said. The three nuclear power plants Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2 are currently still running in Germany. According to the Atomic Energy Act, they will go offline on December 31, 2022.