Nuclear explosion in Japan

[BlasterBates]

They have announced the suspension of recently laid plans to keep them running longer, which means that two of the ones that were due to shutdown shortly will be turned off after all. This isn't a direct consequence of the situation in Japan, the debate has been going on for some time.

BBC News | EUROPE | Germany renounces nuclear power

Environment minister stands firm on nuclear power plant closure | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 15.02.2010

That's the whole point, the government were going to reverse the SPD policy and keep all Nuclear powerstations running indefinitely more or less, and they were about to push this through. So that until there was sensible alternative they could keep the lights on.

That isn't now going to happen, due entirely to the media frenzy on the Japanese power plants, so the "nutcase" idea to replace Nuclear base load with renewable is now back on. Nuclear powerstations will now be phased out over the next ten years.

There is nothing to replace them with apart from bl**dy windmills.

[doodab]

I'm impressed you stopped obsessing about your bowel movements long enough to think about this.

There are some obvious parallels.

[TimberWolf]

Unless they manage to keep it inside the outer containment vessel.

I suspect the main reason they are worrying about a meltdown isn't because it could lead to another Chernobyl but because it will cost a whole lot more to tidy up afterwards.

Condense the dodgy steam inside the outer containment vessel?

I'm not sure how accurate the meltdown news is yet. I thought 'an official' said so, plus all the media of course.

[stek]

There is nothing to replace them with apart from bl**dy windmills.

Won't that slow the wind down?

[BlasterBates]

It's scary, Germany has a huge Nuclear base load, and the energy companies will be spending millions doing nothing other than decommissioning them.

Even though they've spent billions already on renewables, they still provide a tiny fraction.

It really is truly scary to see what's going to happen, with their accelerated nuclear shutdown.

If you don't live in Germany it will be a very interesting economic experiment.

The trouble with Electricty generation is that it has a decade or two of lead time. So when it all goes pear shaped, you're stuck with it for a generation.

Still the Greens will be wetting themselves.

[doodab]

That's the whole point, the government were going to keep all Nuclear powerstations running indefinitely more or less, and they were about to push this through. So that until there was sensible alternative they could keep the lights on.

That isn't now going to happen, so the "nutcase" idea to replace Nuclear base load with renewable is now on. Nuclear powerstations will now be phased out over the next ten years.

There is nothing to replace them with apart from bl**dy windmills.

No it isn't. The whole point is that for the last 10 years or so up until recently there had been a plan to phase out nuclear power in Germany. The CDU finally got themselves into a position to alter that plan (as per their declared policy since 2002 or so) and were attempting to push it through but were meeting a lot of resistance even before any of this happened, with the opposition prepared to take it to the highest court in the land and tens of thousands of people attending protests. There is strong opposition to nuclear power here, which goes back to Chernobyl and even before, something like 60% of people want nuclear power phased out.

They have postponed the plan to change the existing plan for 3 months, because they know if they don't they will get battered in the upcoming regional elections. They will almost certainly put it back on the table when the fuss has died down, but it wasn't actually a done deal.

[minestrone]

I find it a bit sad that so much attention is being given to these nuclear power station problems. The tsunami has already dwarfed anything that is going to happen with these reactors in terms of human, environmental and economic impact.

Sad but true, people are disaster weary, any time there is one ( and there is one nearly every month) the rolling news saturates coverage to the point where disasters seem near normal to the population. We are more interested in a thunderbirds nuclear disaster story that 500 people dead on a beach.

[BlasterBates]

Well you're right there would have been a fuss, but they would have ignored it. But now I don't think it will get back on the table. That's pretty much a U turn to close down two powerstations now.

The fact is when the SPD agreed to shut down Nuclear power stations that was almost 10 years ago, so 20 years into the future was not something anyone was worrying about, the answer then was "by 2020 there will be all sorts of renewable alternatives" well here we are 2011, and the landscape is covered in wind generators, but I don't see lot of juice coming out the tap. Which is of course why the current government had a strong argument to keep them going until there was a viable alternative. Even if the current government buy a bit of time, it is pretty clear a new SPD-Green government would just shut them down anyway.

[doodab]

It's scary, Germany has a huge Nuclear base load, and the energy companies will be spending millions doing nothing other than decommissioning them.

Even though they've spent billions already on renewables, they still provide a tiny fraction.

It really is truly scary to see what's going to happen, with their accelerated nuclear shutdown.

If you don't live in Germany it will be a very interesting economic experiment.

The trouble with Electricty generation is that it has a decade or two of lead time. So when it all goes pear shaped, you're stuck with it for a generation.

Still the Greens will be wetting themselves.

Germany currently gets about 16% of it's electricity from renewables and 30% or so from nuclear. By far the biggest contribution is from burning coal and in addition to the drive for more renewable energy there are longstanding plans to build more coal fired power stations. Not ideal when it comes to meeting emissions targets but it will keep the lights on.

As for the economics, I think you'll find that the German economy is more affected by the price of oil and gas than it will be by switching off of the nuclear power stations, as these make up about 2/3rds of the total energy consumption, with nuclear accounting for about 10%.

[minestrone]

Hunterston b which provides ( I think ) about 25% of Scotland's power is shutting down in 5 years and is not being replaced. Madness.