More nuclear plants off-line in Spain and Germany

Over the weekend, nuclear power plant operators switched off a large number of nuclear plants in Spain and Germany in addition to the ones already taken off-line. Experts disagree about what the effects will be.

On Friday, El Pais reported that four of the country's eight nuclear reactors were off-line after Almarez I was taken off-line for unscheduled maintenance. The three other reactors – Garoña, Trillo and Asco I – are shut down for scheduled refueling. As a result, only 4.0 gigawatts of the country's 7.7 are currently online, but Red Electrica (the Spanish grid operator) says that no problems are expected. Over the past few years, Spain has installed a considerable amount of natural gas turbines and renewable power generators and has indeed been a net exporter of electricity to France over the past year.

In Germany, another net exporter of electricity to France, the debate is much more heated, with proponents of renewables charging that the current reduction in nuclear power only demonstrates that renewables can already replace nuclear, while proponents of nuclear argue that a blackout is inevitable. In mid-March, the German government handed down a temporary "moratorium" on nuclear, which had the effect of closing the oldest seven of the country's 17 nuclear plants and keeping off-line an eighth plant that was shut down at the time. In other words, the country went from 17 to 9 plants within a week. (Renewables International reported.)

Interestingly, since then the power firms have continued to shut down their nuclear plants. According to Der Spiegel, the shutdowns are scheduled, though that can only mean that plant operators had already planned to simultaneously shut down roughly a quarter of Germany's nuclear capacity – four of 17 reactors – even before the moratorium.

Whatever the case, Germany's online nuclear generating capacity has fallen from roughly 20.5 gigawatts to a mere 5.4, with only Brokdorf, Isar 2, Gundremmingen C and Neckarwestheim remaining online. German media report that the country's four transit grid operators are now concerned about blackouts, saying that there are no security reserves left; grid operator Tennet has apparently also asked E.on to postpone the planned shutdown of its Staudinger 5 coal plant for revision.

Proponents of renewables say that the events in Germany only go to show that we didn't need all of that nuclear power to begin with. German environmental minister Röttgen has even rejected the charges that Germany faces power outages this winter; traditionally, power demand is the greatest in Germany in late November, which happens to also be a time of relatively low solar power production. A spokesperson for the German government has also said that "transit grid operators will make sure no blackouts occur."

Germany is also drawing attention internationally with its decision to shut down so much nuclear so quickly. Yesterday, Nobuo Tanaka, the Japanese head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told the Financial Times Deutschland that Germany should reconsider its policy of "going it alone" and work towards a solution at the European level. Tanaka did not, however, accuse France of "going it alone" even though the country gets nearly 80 percent of its power from nuclear plants, generally four times as much as most industrialized nations.

Fortunately, 2011 is proving to be a strong year for renewables, with wind power performing well and photovoltaics performing exceptionally well. Since March – when the moratorium began – Germany has been undergoing a hot, dry spell that has been damaging to the country's agricultural sector, but has kept solar power production at quite high levels. (cm)