Nuclear power plants in Germany produced electricity for around six decades. The search for a repository for high-level radioactive waste from these facilities will take a million years. Was it worth it? Attempt at a small balance sheet in numbers.
NUMBER: According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, 37 nuclear power plants have been connected to the grid in Germany since 1962 – not including research reactors. The first feed-in in the Federal Republic was in 1961 in the Kahl experimental nuclear power plant in Bavaria. In the GDR, the plant in Rheinsberg (today in the state of Brandenburg) went into operation in 1966.
TRANSIT TIMES: For example, the nuclear power plants in Grohnde (Lower Saxony), Gundremmingen (Bavaria) and Obrigheim (Baden-Württemberg) were connected to the grid for a very long time at 37 years, but other plants also ran for more than 30 years. In contrast, the kiln in Mülheim-Kärlich near Koblenz, which cost around seven billion marks (3.6 billion euros), was only in operation for a very short time. After the test run, it only ran for 100 days due to the lack of a building permit. In the GDR plants in Rheinsberg and Greifswald, the nuclear power era came to an end shortly after reunification due to safety concerns. A huge facility near Stendal remained a ruin.
MISPLANNING: Not all nuclear power plants went online. The “Fast Breeder” in Kalkar, North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, was completed in 1985 but never went into operation due to public protests and safety concerns. The ruined investment cost around seven billion marks (3.6 billion euros) and is now an amusement park.
POWER PRODUCTION: According to the Verein Kerntechnik Deutschland, between 1961 and the end of 2021, German nuclear power plants generated around 5560 billion kilowatt hours of electricity gross. With one kilowatt hour of electricity, for example, you can vacuum for an hour. For many years, nuclear energy accounted for around a third of the German electricity mix. The gradual German nuclear phase-out meant that in 2022 it was only 6.4 percent. For comparison: Last year, green energy accounted for 46.3 percent, coal was 33.3 percent and natural gas 11.4 percent.
NUCLEAR POWER IN COMPARISON: A cost analysis of electricity from nuclear energy in Germany is a problem even for the scientific services of the Bundestag. For example, before 2007 there was no comprehensive data on the external costs and market value of nuclear energy. For 2021, the service compared the electricity costs for society as a whole – including, for example, subsidies and possible environmental damage. At 37.8 cents per kilowatt hour, nuclear power was by far the most expensive. According to the calculation, coal is between 23.3 and 25.6 cents, solar 22.8 cents and wind between 8.8 and 18.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
CONSEQUENTIAL COSTS: The amount of highly radioactive waste from fuel elements alone is estimated at around 10,500 tons in Germany. A commission calculated the total disposal costs for Germany in 2016 at around 48.8 billion euros (with prices from 2014). There is not yet a repository in Germany. A brochure for the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management states that one or two generations in Germany have benefited from nuclear energy. Repositories would affect the lives of more than 33,000 future generations.
NEW RISKS: With Russia’s attack on Ukraine, nuclear facilities became the target of military conflicts for the first time. The German Institute for Economic Research also lists the risk of proliferation of weapons-grade radioactive material from nuclear reactors on the social cost side. In addition, there are the well-known risks of radioactive radiation, such as after the major accidents in Harrisburg (USA/1977), Chernobyl (Soviet Union/Ukraine/1986) and Fukushima (Japan/2011). The Verein Kerntechnik Deutschland, which also includes energy suppliers, believes that the benefits of nuclear energy are at least eight times greater than the social costs.