Introduction

Apart from coal, Germany has limited domestic primary energy sources and relies upon imports to meet most of its energy needs. Coal-fired and nuclear power plants (NPPs) generate most of Germany’s electricity. Coal is the most important energy source, accounting for about half of the country’s total electricity production. The country’s 17 operating NPPs generate some 26 % of the country’s electricity and about the half of base-load electricity. Germany’s electricity grid is part of the Union for the Coordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE). The 1998 coalition government formed between the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party agreed to phase out nuclear power. In June 2001 the leaders of the Red-Green coalition government and the four main energy companies signed an agreement to limit the operational lives of the reactors to an average of 32 years. On 28 September 2009, Angela Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won the German federal elections with a comfortable majority. The Black-Yellow coalition (CDU/FPD) government agreed on 5 September 2010 to extend the operational duration of the country’s 17 nuclear power plants (NPPs) by 12 years on average beyond 2021.

Country Profile

Executive Summary

Apart from coal, Germany has limited domestic primary energy sources and relies upon imports to meet most of its energy needs. Coal-fired and nuclear power plants (NPPs) generate most of Germany’s electricity. Coal is the most important energy source, accounting for about half of the country’s total electricity production. The country’s 17 operating NPPs generate some 26 % of the country’s electricity and about the half of base-load electricity. Germany’s electricity grid is part of the Union for the Coordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE). The 1998 coalition government formed between the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party agreed to phase out nuclear power. In June 2001 the leaders of the Red-Green coalition government and the four main energy companies signed an agreement to limit the operational lives of the reactors to an average of 32 years. On 28 September 2009, Angela Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won the German federal elections with a comfortable majority. The Black-Yellow coalition (CDU/FPD) government agreed on 5 September 2010 to extend the operational duration of the country’s 17 nuclear power plants (NPPs) by 12 years on average beyond 2021.

Security of supply

Apart from coal, Germany has limited domestic primary energy sources and relies upon imports of about 75 % to meet most of its energy needs. Germany must import most of its crude oil and petroleum – mainly from Russia and Norway. Coal is Germany’s most abundant indigenous energy source. The country’s recoverable coal reserves are sufficient and the largest reserves within the EU. But the production has decreased of late due to the closure of coal-fired generation plants in the former East Germany, diversification of energy supply, the restructuring of the coal industry and the adoption of stricter environmental regulations. Coal and nuclear power plants generate most of Germany’s electricity. Coal is the most important energy source, accounting for about half of the country’s total electricity production. The country’s 17 operating NPPs generate some 26 % of the country’s electricity and account for about half of based-load electricity. According to international conventions Nuclear power ist rated as a domestic energy source.

Germany’s electricity grid is part of the Union for the Coordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE). The country imports electricity mainly from France, whose electricity is mostly generated by nuclear power, and the Czech Republic. Overall, however, Germany exports more electricity than it imports.

Nuclear Policy

Nineteen experimental and commercial reactors have been shut down and are being decommissioned. In 1990, following reunification, five VVER-440 units (Soviet-designed reactors) at Greifswald were shut down. In October 1998, a coalition government was formed between the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party. They agreed to phase out nuclear power. Long “consensus talks” with the electricity utilities took place and, in 2000, a compromise was announced that helped the government save face while ensuring uninterrupted operation of the NPPs for many years ahead. While limiting plant lifetime to some degree, the agreement averted the risk of any enforced plant closure during the term of the government. In June 2001, the leaders of the Red-Green coalition government and the four main energy companies signed an agreement that implemented the 2000 compromise. The agreement entered into force in 2002. Under the terms of the agreement, the companies agreed to limit the operational lifetimes of the reactors to an average of 32 years. The permitted electricity production at the one non-operational reactor (at Muelheim Kaerlich) was transferred to other power plants. The 2002 law also forbad the construction of new NPPs for the time being.

On 28 September 2009, Angela Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won the German federal elections with a comfortable majority. The Black-Yellow coalition (CDU/FPD) government agreed on 5 September 2010 to extend the operational duration of the country’s 17 nuclear power plants (NPPs) by 12 years on average. The agreement is part of a broader energy strategy due to be announced later this month. Older NPPs would operate for 8 more years and newer ones for 14 more years. The decision also includes a nuclear fuel tax aimed at raising 3 billion € a year to develop renewable energies. The decision still needs to be ratified by the Parliament. The government insists that it should only be adopted by the lower house, the Bundestag, where it holds a majority. The opposition on the contrary claims that it should be adopted by both houses, the lower and the upper house, the Bundesrat that represents the federal states, where the governing coalition lost its majority following elections last May. According to independent sources, extending the operational duration of Germany’s NPPs could help create thousands of jobs including 7000 construction jobs as the Environment Minister wants them to be fitted with additional concrete to protect against airplane crashes. It would also contribute to economic growth.

Safety and waste management

German NPPs comply with western safety standards. In 1955, the then West German government set up an Atomic Ministry that had strong European links. The Atomic Energy Act was promulgated in 1959 and is still the core legislation governing licensing and safety.

The policy of the coalition government from 1998 onwards was to promote geological disposal of spent fuel and no reprocessing after 2005. The utilities are responsible for interim storage of spent fuel, and have formed joint companies to build and operate off-site surface storage facilities at Ahaus and Gorleben. However, current policy is to favour interim storage at reactor sites. The federal government’s Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) is responsible for building and operating final repositories for high active waste (HAW). The Christian Democratic state governments would like to make progress with the issue, but the federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conversation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) is trying to prevent progress by insisting on having only one repository site for high active waste. Following a site selection process, the salt dome at Gorleben is being studied as a possible site for the geological disposal of high active waste. However the BMU issued a moratorium for the exploratory work, lasting 3 years as a minimum and 10 years as a maximum to clarify location-independent questions which became effective on 1 October 2000. In the meantime these questions were processed by experts: The Gorleben salt dome is safety-related suitable as a repository for high active waste. The construction of the site has already cost €1.5 billion and € 2 billion would be needed to complete the repository. The site could be available in 2025. During this period the operation of the Gorleben exploratory mine is restricted to maintenance work necessary to keep the mine in a safe state. Separated high active wastes from reprocessing are expected to be returned to Germany by 2022 and stored.

The Ahaus facility is used for storing intermediate-level wastes, and the Konrad site was licensed in 2002 for the disposal of low and medium active waste (LAW and MAW). After dismissing all legal objections against Konrad site by the highest German administrative court in spring 2007, the site is expected to be operational by 2013 the latest.

Climate Change

Germany is strongly committed to environmental protection and has, therefore, fixed ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Germany ranks fourth in the total carbon emissions league table of the G-8, after the United States, Russia and Japan. Germany has signed the Kyoto Protocol and according to the EU burden-sharing agreement must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 21% below the 1990 level by 2012. Moreover, the German government aims at a 40 % reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020. Though Germany aims to increase the share of power generated by renewables to 20 % by 2020, the goal will be harder to achieve if the current phase-out policy is maintained. Indeed, Germany’s other main fuel source used for base-load electricity is brown coal (which produces about 1 ton of carbon dioxide per MWh). In 2006 44,3 % of the country’s base-load electricity were generated by brown coal-fired power plants, 50,3 % by nuclear power plants and 5,4 % by water power plants.

Public opinion

Sixty-one percent of Germans in an opinion poll conducted by the Forsa Institute for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper (January 2007) oppose the government's plans to abandon the use of nuclear power by 2020. It reveals an increase compared to the results of a previous opinion poll conducted by Emnid in June 2005. In this survey, 47 % of respondents supported the CDU plan to extend the lifetimes of the NPPs beyond 2021. In addition, 48 % were against the continuation of the implementation of the agreement signed between the Red-Green coalition government and the energy companies to phase-out nuclear. Also an actual opinion poll conducted by the Emnid Institute in June and October 2007 gave evidence that the majority of Germans are pro extending lifetime of German NPPs.