Nuclear shutdowns
July 25, 2009
German Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan has cautioned against a demonization of nuclear power following the shutdown of multiple reactors across the country due to technical malfunctions.
In an interview with the Abendblatt daily on Saturday, Schavan, who is a member of Chancellor Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU), said that those concerned about Germany's future energy supply "shouldn't demonize nuclear power."
Schavan supports the CDU's proposal to lengthen the lifespan of Germany's nuclear power plants and has demanded that more research be done in the area of atomic energy.
The Green party, on the other hand, sees the recent incidents and shutdowns as a justification of their anti-nuclear stance. The head of the Green Party's parliamentary group, Baerbel Hoehn, called the plan supported by the CDU and the Free Democrats to keep the plants open "irresponsible."
Emergency shutdown
The statements came a day after two nuclear power plants in Germany were disabled due to irregularities, including one in the northwestern town of Lingen, where an emergency shutdown was automatically initiated following an incident in one of the generators.
According to the environment ministry of the German state of Lower Saxony, where Lingen is located, it was only a small incident and no radioactive material was released.
RWE, the plant's operator, said that all safety devices worked perfectly and that a monitoring device had shut off a tap changer to protect a transformer from being damaged.
RWE added that the appropriate authorities had been informed and that experts from the nuclear regulatory board and technical control board inspected the plant. It is unclear when the plant will be back up and running.
Second plant taken of the grid
The other incident occurred at the Philippsburg nuclear power plant in southwest Germany, and resulted in a section of the facility being taken off the grid.
The plant's operator, Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg (EnBW), said the step was taken during a search for a possible defect in one of the generator transformers.
The 1400 megawatt reactor in Lingen began operation in 1988 and, according to data provided by RWE, produces 11 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year, powering 3.5 million households.
The Philippsburg nuclear reactor was built in the 1970s. The first unit, with a boiling water reactor, went online in 1979 with the second unit, a pressurized water reactor, following five years later.
Together the two sections provide a quarter of the electricity needs of the 10 million people living in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
mrm/dpa/AP
Editor: Kyle James