Nuclear plant operator rejects ideas to restart Germany’s reactors on economical grounds

Restarting Germany’s decommissioned nuclear power plants is not a viable option, former plant operator E.ON has said. The company insisted that plans to fully dismantle all plants remain unchanged. A return to nuclear power production would not be economical, E.ON finance head Nadia Jakobi told journalists in a phone call, business newspaper Handelsblatt reported. The company had taken its last nuclear plant, Isar 2, off the grid in April 2023, when Germany shuttered its three remaining plants after years of preparing its full nuclear phase-out.

The idea of Germany returning to nuclear power had gained some traction due to the energy crisis. Proponents argue that the technology could provide a low-carbon alternative to fossil plants that will help stabilize supply and keep prices low while renewable energy sources are expanded. Members of the largest opposition group, the CDU/CSU alliance, in a position paper on energy policy, considered assessing options for refiring the idle plants across the country before dismantling begins.

However, CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who could become chancellor after Germany’s upcoming snap elections in February, poured cold water on these plans: At a conference last week on the conservative’s energy policy plans, Merz said that the future of nuclear plants in Germany could not be reversed “without a societal consensus”, newspaper Die Welt reported. “The more time passes, the less likely it is that there will be a fresh start for the decommissioned plants,” Merz added. However, the CDU leader had earlier said that his party remained open to nuclear power research into concepts such as small modular reactors (SMR) or nuclear fusion.

At the UN climate conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, had said that a return to nuclear power would be “logical” for Germany, Deutsche Welle reported. Grossi argued that Germany was so far the only country to fully withdraw from the technology. Spain, Taiwan and Italy all have made pledges to fully exit nuclear power. However, Italy’s government recently proposed the country could re-enter the technology.