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Country profile: Germany

Summary figures for 2011

The following information is from the NEA publication Nuclear Energy Data, the annual compilation of official statistics and country reports on nuclear energy in OECD member countries.

Country
Number of nuclear power plants connected to the grid
Nuclear electricity generation
(net TWh) 2011
Nuclear percentage of total electricity supply
Germany
9
102.0
 *
17.6
  
OECD Europe
135
858.4
24.7
  
Total
329
2049.5
20.7
  

* Provisional data

Country report

Germany's phase-out of the use of nuclear power was laid down by law through the April 2002 adoption of the Act on the Structured Phase-out of Nuclear Power for the Commercial Production of Electricity. The legislation set out rules to end the use of existing German NPPs for the commercial production of electricity. To this end, a determination was made regarding the remaining amount of power that each NPP could produce. This amount corresponded to the total amount of power that would be produced during an average operational lifespan of 32 years. Power plants were to be switched off once they had generated the amount of power stipulated by law.

In autumn 2010, the federal government adopted an "energy concept" that sets the course for Germany's transition to the age of renewable energy. In the energy concept, nuclear power is to play a bridging function, but only until renewables are able to play their part reliably and the infrastructure needed to achieve this has been put into place.

The 11th Act amending the Atomic Energy Act, which took effect in December 2010 and is based on the energy concept, raised the limit of the remaining power amounts that NPPs would be permitted to produce, thereby extending the lifespan of Germany's 17 nuclear plants by an average of 12 years (the 7 power plants that had gone into operation before 1980 were allowed to produce additional power corresponding to 8 additional years of operation; for the other 10 power plants, the amount corresponded to 14 additional years).

In the aftermath of the previously inconceivable events that unfolded at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP, the role of nuclear power had to be reconsidered. The Fukushima Daiichi disaster and its consequences, which cannot yet be fully foreseen, make it necessary to reassess the risks associated with the use of nuclear power. In light of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, Chancellor Merkel (in co-ordination with the Minister-Presidents of the Länderem> where NPPs are in operation) decided on 15 March 2011 to subject all German NPPs to a comprehensive safety review. As part of this safety review, eight NPPs - seven older plants together with the Krümmel plant - were either taken offline or, for those plants not in operation at the time, not switched on. The eight plants affected by this temporary three-month discontinuation of operation are Neckarwestheim 1, Phillipsburg 1, Biblis A and B, Isar 1, Unterweser, Brunsbüttel and Krümmel.

The safety review of all German NPPs was conducted by the Reactor Safety Commission in close collaboration with the competent nuclear regulatory authorities. In May 2011, the Reactor Safety Commission submitted a comprehensive analysis of the risks associated with German NPPs. In addition, the federal government set up an independent ethics commission, the Ethics Commission for a Safe Energy Supply, which in May 2011 submitted a comprehensive opinion on issues relating to Germany's future energy supply. The findings of these commissions served as guidelines for the energy policy decisions that needed to be made. On 30 June 2011, the German Bundestag decided with a vast majority that no later than the end of 2022 Germany will fully terminate the generation of power by German NPPs. This 13th Act amending the Atomic Energy Act took effect on 6 August 2011. For the eight NPPs taken offline during the nuclear safety review, the authorisation to generate power expired with the 13th Act.

In a step-by-step process the other NPPs are to be taken offline as follows: the Grafenrheinfeld plant by end 2015, Gundremmingen B by end 2017, Philippsburg 2 by end 2019 and Grohnde, Gundremmingen C and Brokdorf by end 2021. The three newest facilities - Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2 - are to be taken offline by the end 2022 at the latest.

Source: Nuclear Energy Data 2012

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Last reviewed: 7 October 2011