Germany May Shut Nuclear Plants

[jpak]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576200122562101848.html

FRANKFURT—German Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Guido Westerwelle said Monday that individual nuclear power plants could be shut down on safety grounds after accidents at Japanese reactors that followed a devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami Friday.

If German reactors were found to have inadequate cooling systems the facilities need to be shut down and upgraded, Mr. Westerwelle told reporters at a press conference in Berlin.

His statement came as Switzerland suspended plans for new nuclear plants, pending a review of the emergency in Japan.

Failure to cool fuel rods was the main cause for the partial meltdown of at least two Japanese reactors over the weekend.

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[MissHoneychurch]

1. Don't expect too much

this year we have elections in some Bundesländern (states) and the CDU/FDP are scared they lose over the Nuclear Plants.

My guess is that once the elections are over and the CDU/FDP won they will continue prolonging the closing. After all Angela Merkel and her government decided against the closure when they came to power. I guess the Engery monopolies payed her enough for her campaign.

[FBaggins]

2. If their cooling systems are deemed to be inadequate.

Do we think that will be the case?

If they aren't in a region that's prone to earthquakes or major flooding, what would make them inadequate?

[ehrnst]

3. Three Mile Island wasn't in an earthquake or major flooding area, and it failed..

While plants have more redundancies in place, the cooling system is the last defense against a disaster.

Much like a blow out valve is for an oil spill.

[FBaggins]

4. Yep... but here's the key

it "failed" safely

Even with the failure, the total impact to human health and the environment was well below the damage that fossil-fuel power generation does every day.

the cooling system is the last defense against a disaster.


The cooling system is the last defense against a financial disaster. It's failure equals the loss of a multi-billion-dollar reactor. But it isn't the last line of defense against a public safety disaster.

That line is being tested right now.