Germany also stores some energy by pumping water uphill for storage behind dams, but there's only so much capacity (only so many dams). That will change if other low-cost grid-level energy storage systems become available.
Why mothball nuke plants when they are not in danger from tsunamis seeing as how they are miles inland in Southern Germany? Was there a public outcry after Fukushima? Seems like keeping the nuke plants running locally would obviate the need for this high euro spend on HVDC as cool and all as the tech sounds.
Yes. Originally, the social-democrat/green government of 1998-2005 planned to shut down all nuke plants until 2020 or so, but the conservative/liberal democrats government that took over in 2009 stopped that, mostly against the will of the public. After Fukushima, there was such a huge backslash that our dear chancellor decided it might help her popularity more if she changed her mind.
And while tsunamis are rather rare in Stuttgart, the upper rhine rift is an active earthquake zone, and since we unfortunately are not allowed to just sell the waste to Russia to dump in Siberia, we also have to dispose of it somewhere in Germany. If you look at a population-density map, you will find few places with few enough people to accept highly radioactive nuclear waste.
You are right, however, that it is economically somewhat senseless to shut down the nuke plants basically shortly after the subsidies/initial costs paid off, but, well.
Yes, but it has to be permanently stored within Germany (if it comes from a German plant), i.e. is sent back here after reprocessing. Furthermore, you cannot reprocess this stuff indefinitely, so you’ll have to store it eventually.
Really, just dumping it in a large area somewhere in Siberia with a sufficiently scary fence around it and generous compensation for the few people who have to relocate for it would be the best solution.
>You are right, however, that it is economically somewhat senseless to shut down the nuke plants basically shortly after the subsidies/initial costs paid off, but, well.
How is it more senseless than shutting them down any other time before the end of their useful life? Sunk costs are sunk.
You answer your own question. The amount of useful life they have left that goes unused is an opportunity cost. The earlier they are shut-down the larger that cost (which necessarily must be taken up in providing power through some other means).
Sunk costs are sunk, yes, but at the moment they provide cheaper energy than during most of their previous lifetime. Or put another way, the earlier you shut down a plant, the more you pay per kilowatt-hour generated.
The Rhine valley is an active tectonic fault, so after Fukushima it does not sound like the best idea to build nuclear power plants there. Furthermore, the region is one of the more densely populated one in Germany and it is one of the economic powerhouses (BASF, SAP) and one of the important transport corridors in Europe (ports of the Netherlands -> Bavaria, Switzerland, Italy).
The Biblis power plant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblis_Nuclear_Power_Plant) is located directly at the core of this region, is one of the oldest reactor in Germany and one of the most powerful. It was built in the early 70s, so there is no protection against plane crashes, no secondary remote control room. If it was destroyed, roughly a million people would have to be evacuated immediately and because it is situated right at the Rhine river, major cities like Cologne and Dusseldorf downriver would have to deal with radioactive water flowing by.
Just a worst-case scenario, but people just felt uncomfortable with risks like that.
I was surprised recently to see that there have been some fairly large volcanic eruptions in what is now Germany in what is, at least in geological terms, very recent history (12,900 years ago):
According to the Wikipedia page the last eruption at Eifel was 10,000 years ago and it looks like 10,000 to 20,000 years between eruptions, so you might get your wish!
Comments
Germany also stores some energy by pumping water uphill for storage behind dams, but there's only so much capacity (only so many dams). That will change if other low-cost grid-level energy storage systems become available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_energy_storage
Why mothball nuke plants when they are not in danger from tsunamis seeing as how they are miles inland in Southern Germany? Was there a public outcry after Fukushima? Seems like keeping the nuke plants running locally would obviate the need for this high euro spend on HVDC as cool and all as the tech sounds.
> Was there a public outcry after Fukushima?
Yes. Originally, the social-democrat/green government of 1998-2005 planned to shut down all nuke plants until 2020 or so, but the conservative/liberal democrats government that took over in 2009 stopped that, mostly against the will of the public. After Fukushima, there was such a huge backslash that our dear chancellor decided it might help her popularity more if she changed her mind.
And while tsunamis are rather rare in Stuttgart, the upper rhine rift is an active earthquake zone, and since we unfortunately are not allowed to just sell the waste to Russia to dump in Siberia, we also have to dispose of it somewhere in Germany. If you look at a population-density map, you will find few places with few enough people to accept highly radioactive nuclear waste.
You are right, however, that it is economically somewhat senseless to shut down the nuke plants basically shortly after the subsidies/initial costs paid off, but, well.
> and since we unfortunately are not allowed to just sell the waste to Russia to dump in Siberia, we also have to dispose of it somewhere in Germany.
Isn't it actually sent to France for reprocessing ? (La Hague factory).
At least part of it is.
Yes, but it has to be permanently stored within Germany (if it comes from a German plant), i.e. is sent back here after reprocessing. Furthermore, you cannot reprocess this stuff indefinitely, so you’ll have to store it eventually.
Really, just dumping it in a large area somewhere in Siberia with a sufficiently scary fence around it and generous compensation for the few people who have to relocate for it would be the best solution.
>You are right, however, that it is economically somewhat senseless to shut down the nuke plants basically shortly after the subsidies/initial costs paid off, but, well.
How is it more senseless than shutting them down any other time before the end of their useful life? Sunk costs are sunk.
You answer your own question. The amount of useful life they have left that goes unused is an opportunity cost. The earlier they are shut-down the larger that cost (which necessarily must be taken up in providing power through some other means).
Sunk costs are sunk, yes, but at the moment they provide cheaper energy than during most of their previous lifetime. Or put another way, the earlier you shut down a plant, the more you pay per kilowatt-hour generated.
The Rhine valley is an active tectonic fault, so after Fukushima it does not sound like the best idea to build nuclear power plants there. Furthermore, the region is one of the more densely populated one in Germany and it is one of the economic powerhouses (BASF, SAP) and one of the important transport corridors in Europe (ports of the Netherlands -> Bavaria, Switzerland, Italy).
The Biblis power plant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblis_Nuclear_Power_Plant) is located directly at the core of this region, is one of the oldest reactor in Germany and one of the most powerful. It was built in the early 70s, so there is no protection against plane crashes, no secondary remote control room. If it was destroyed, roughly a million people would have to be evacuated immediately and because it is situated right at the Rhine river, major cities like Cologne and Dusseldorf downriver would have to deal with radioactive water flowing by.
Just a worst-case scenario, but people just felt uncomfortable with risks like that.
I was surprised recently to see that there have been some fairly large volcanic eruptions in what is now Germany in what is, at least in geological terms, very recent history (12,900 years ago):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laacher_See
When I was little, we visited Laacher See and my parents told me of the recent (well, geologically speaking) eruptions.
Spend days dreaming and hoping that the Eifel volcano would erupt again :)
Near the end of the Rhine valley in Switzerland is Basel which was devastated by an earthquake in the 14th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1356_Basel_earthquake)
According to the Wikipedia page the last eruption at Eifel was 10,000 years ago and it looks like 10,000 to 20,000 years between eruptions, so you might get your wish!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eifel
But, you see, nuclear plants literally consume babies.
They're fueled by babies--fission is the act of separating a baby into two or more pieces, and using the released energy (screams) to fuel your city.
No civilized nation would continue to use such an awful and dirty power source.