ドイツ、原発３か所の運転停止　電力危機の中

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】欧州が過去最大規模の電力危機に直面する中、ドイツは昨年１２月３１日、アンゲラ・メルケル前首相の計画通り、原子力発電所３か所の運転を停止した。（写真はドイツのグンドレンミンゲン原発）
　運転が停止されたのは、ブロクドルフ、グローンデ、グンドレンミンゲンの３原発。
　これにより、ドイツの原子力発電能力はこれまでの半分となり、発電量は約４ギガワット減少。これは風車１０００基による発電量に相当する。
　エネルギー価格が上昇する中、欧州と天然ガスの主要供給国ロシアとの緊張もかつてないほど高まっており、３原発の閉鎖で電力危機がさらに深刻化する恐れもある。
　２０１１年の福島第１原子力発電所事故後の反対運動を受け、メルケル前首相は脱原発を決めた。２２年末までに、残る原発３か所を閉鎖して原子力発電を完全に廃止する計画だ。だが欧州全土で電力が高騰する中、最悪のタイミングになるとの見方もある。
　フランスをはじめ、原子力推進の立場を維持している他の欧州連合（ＥＵ）加盟諸国は、原子力が投資対象となるよう、ＥＵが定める持続可能なエネルギー源のリストに追加するよう要請している。
　またドイツ国内でも、原発に対する世論は軟化しつつある。だが政府は、メルケル前首相の計画を継続する方針だ。
　連立政権の一端を担う緑の党のロベルト・ハベック共同代表は先週、原子力エネルギーの再導入を訴える政治家がいるならば、同時に「自分の選挙区に放射性廃棄物を保管したいと言わなければならない」と指摘。「誰かがそう言うなら、この件を再検討する」と述べ、原発閉鎖を擁護した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/01/04-11:41）

Germany will shut down three nuclear power plants on Friday even as Europe faces one of its worst ever energy crises, following Angela Merkel's timetable for phasing out atomic energy.
With energy prices already on the rise and tensions higher than ever between Europe and key gas supplier Russia, the closure of the plants in Brokdorf, Grohnde and Gundremmingen could well tighten the squeeze.
The move will halve remaining nuclear capacity in Germany and reduce energy output by around four gigawatts -- equivalent to the power produced by 1,000 wind turbines.
Protests over the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 prompted former chancellor Merkel to set the wheels in motion for abandoning nuclear power just over 10 years ago.
Germany is planning to completely wind down atomic energy by the end of 2022, when it will shut its final three plants in Neckarwestheim, Essenbach and Emsland.
But with energy prices soaring across Europe, the timing of the plans coming to fruition could hardly be worse.
Europe's reference gas price, Dutch TTF, hit 187.78 euros per megawatt hour in December -- 10 times higher than at the start of the year -- and electricity prices are also soaring.
The spike has been fuelled by geopolitical tensions with Russia, which supplies one third of Europe's gas.
Western countries accuse Russia of limiting gas deliveries to put pressure on Europe amid tensions over the Ukraine conflict.
Moscow also wants to push through the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, set to ship still more Russian gas to Germany.
- Price hikes -
The end of nuclear power in Germany will likely push prices up even further, according to Sebastian Herold, a professor of energy policy at the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences.
In the long term, the hope is that an increase in renewable energy will balance things out, but this will not be the case in the short term, he told AFP.
Until Germany can really ramp up renewables, it will remain dependent on fossil fuels to plug the gap left by the nuclear exit.
This will make Germany more dependent on natural gas overall, at least in the short term, and thus also a little more dependent on Russia, Herold said.
The transition may also take longer than Germany would like, with progress on renewables slowed in recent years by opposition to energy infrastructure projects.
The proportion of energy generated by renewables is expected to fall in 2021 for the first time since 1997 -- to 42 percent, compared with 45.3 percent in 2020.
As well as driving up prices, the nuclear plant closures will also remove a key source of low-carbon energy in a country that is already struggling to meet ambitious climate goals.
The new coalition government under Social Democrat Olaf Scholz has pledged to bring forward Germany's planned coal exit to 2030 and wants Germany to generate 80 percent of its electricity from renewables by the same year.
- Second thoughts? -
But Robert Habeck, the co-leader of the Green party and head of a newly created super-ministry for the economy and climate, admitted this week that Germany is already on course to miss its climate targets for 2022 and probably also 2023.
Other EU countries, including France, are continuing to push nuclear energy and campaigning for it to be included on the EU's list of sustainable energy sources eligible for investment.
Even in Germany, public opinion towards nuclear seems to be softening.
In a recent YouGov survey for the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, around 50 percent of Germans said they were in favour of reversing the planned nuclear shutdown due to the recent sharp rise in energy prices.
Monika Schnitzer, a member of the German Council of Economic Experts, told the Rheinische Post newspaper that it would make sense economically and ecologically to delay the shutdown.
But the government is sticking to Merkel's plan, with Habeck this week defending the nuclear shutdown.
Any politician calling for the reintroduction of nuclear energy would also have to say, I would like to have the nuclear waste in my constituency, he said. As soon as someone says that, I will revisit the issue.