The decision to phase out nuclear power in 2011 showed what is possible in politics if the will is strong enough.

At that time, at least internally, there were great doubts among experts as to whether it could be done in a legally secure manner - it turned out: rightly so.

One person who ignored the doubts was the Bavarian Environment Minister from the CSU: Markus Söder.

Fukushima changes everything, he said.

Timo Frasch

Political correspondent in Munich.

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Now, as Bavarian Prime Minister, Söder once again sees the time to throw previous decisions overboard.

This time it's the war in Ukraine that changes everything from his point of view.

He has therefore been demanding for weeks that the three nuclear power plants that are still connected to the grid in Germany, one of them, Isar 2, in Bavaria, should continue to operate.

Objections, for example from Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who claimed that new fuel rods for continued operation could not be obtained in time, Söder said harshly: That was "nonsense".

Power plant operators want to stay with the exit

On Wednesday, the CSU boss gave a rough interview on Deutschlandfunk.

Söder repeatedly accused the questioner of being biased against nuclear power.

He raised objections to continued operation, for example that the operators themselves do not want it - an argument that was also heard from CSU politicians a few months ago.

In fact, the power plant operators want to stay with the nuclear phase-out until the end of this year, they sell it as "respect" for the decision of the federal government.

But the actual reasons are likely to be different: the corporations were lavishly compensated for the exit and have aligned their structures accordingly.

Söder's substantive reply was somewhat lost in his displeasure with the interview, but it was there.

He pointed out that the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment, led by Free Voter Thorsten Faithr, has commissioned reports that not only deal with the possible continued operation of Isar 2, but also consider a possible restart of Block C in Gundremmingen .

Both are therefore technically and legally possible.

In a report from mid-April, TÜV Süd came to the conclusion that all measures taken by the operator of the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant since it was shut down “could be withdrawn” within about half a year.

After that, power operation is possible for about six months without the procurement of fresh fuel elements.

Isar 2 can continue to operate.

It is not necessary to shut down the system for a safety check.

The reactor core of the current operating cycle, which lasts about a year, is designed in such a way that there are reactivity reserves at the end of the cycle that allow safe continued operation for about 80 days.

In compliance with safety standards, there is the option of designing a new reactor core simply by moving the fuel elements, i.e. without using new ones.

According to the experts, this would enable power operation for around three months.

In total, an additional amount of electricity of around 5160 gigawatt hours would be generated by August 2023.

Based on previous experience, according to the TÜV, a delivery of fresh fuel elements within twelve months is considered possible.

If the order is placed in good time, delivery by August 2023 would be possible – and operations could continue beyond autumn 2023.

As a result, if you want to continue operating Isar 2, you need to hurry.

This is even more true in the case of Gundremmingen.

The American fuel rod manufacturer Westinghouse recently told the “Handelsblatt” that it could even deliver fuel rods within this year.

However, the time window is closing quickly.

At the beginning of April, the nuclear and radiation protection lawyer Christian Raetzke, also commissioned by the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment, came to the conclusion that the Atomic Energy Act could be changed in accordance with the Basic Law in order to extend the operating times of Isar 2 and Gundremmingen.

The basis for this could be the war in Ukraine and the resulting supply bottlenecks.

The fact that no CO2 is released during nuclear fission should also be taken into account.

Does it need a "re-approval"?

According to Raetzke, if the legislature extends or restores the authorization for power operation, the existing permits would not have to be changed or reissued.

This contradicts statements by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, both of which are led by Greens.

According to them, continued operation requires a “new permit”.

Raetzke is of the opinion that an environmental impact assessment is not required either, since all of the announced lifetime extensions are "within the technical lifetime" of the respective power plants.

In order to extend the service life, the legislature would have to change the end date of the power plants, and the residual electricity volumes would either have to be increased or completely abolished.

Another objection, which was also raised against Söder in the Deutschlandfunk interview, is that there may not be enough staff to continue operations.

This is not addressed in the reports (nor does the question of how sensible continued operation would be in terms of energy policy).

However, the Bavarian state government has said that many specialists are still working in the plants due to the planned dismantling of the power plants.

In addition, one can recruit specialists from abroad.