Masswise Meiler: Nuclear Power Plants in Germany
Nuclear Power Plants: The Invisible Danger
The disaster in Fukushima, Japan has frighteningly shown us how dangerous nuclear power is. And that there are still absolutely safe nuclear power plants. In Germany, therefore, the anti-nuclear movement has become a mass phenomenon in recent weeks. Hundreds of thousands demonstrated on the Easter weekend for the withdrawal from nuclear energy, green electricity providers report record application numbers, and the "nuclear power, no thank you" sticker celebrates an amazing renaissance. The Federal Government now drew consequences: The shut down in March reactors should remain permanently disabled, the majority of other power plants by 2021 go from the network. Only the three newest power plants Emsland, Neckarwestheim 2 and Isar 2 will be shut down in 2022.
Even shut down nuclear power plants are still shining
Fukushima has also shown: After shutdown, a reactor is still dangerous. The highly radioactive reactor pressure vessel with the fuel rods has to be stored for years in basins, so that the radiation can decay. If the cooling is interrupted, as was the case in Japan, it can cause explosions and a melt of the fuel rods. The dismantling of a nuclear power plant is a complicated process: with robots, the reactor is disassembled and specially cleaned, every component of the system, even the smallest screw, must be checked for radiation. The radioactive parts then end up in nuclear storage facilities such as Gorleben or Ahaus. The decommissioning of a nuclear power plant takes about 20 years. The nuclear waste shines for hundreds of thousands of years.
