ENS Webinar - From Shutdown to Restart | Feasibility, Innovation and Engineering Perspectives...

ENS Webinar - From Shutdown to Restart | Feasibility, Innovation and Engineering Perspectives on NPP Reactivation Germany is in a unique situation: the nuclear phase-out, which was originally motivated by the Fukushima event, has been completed. All nuclear power plants were shut down, and the dismantling process has started. However, the power supply economy of Germany seems to be out of balance. CO2 production is not going down as anticipated, whereas the electricity prices are the highest in Europe. What has gone wrong, and how can we fix it? Nuclear energy can still play a role, and it may even be the missing element to bring balance back to the system. Restarting the shut-down plants would be a fairly quick step in that direction. But how could that work? Together with the German Nuclear Society (KTG, ENS Member Society), we asked Martin Pache (KernD) for an overview of the status of segmentation in Germany and how the plants could be refurbished from a technical perspective. Thereby, we saw that suitable technologies and experiences exist, which come from life-time-extension and power-uprates. However, there is more to the picture than just the engineer’s viewpoint. It also requires a public discussion to address the people’s fears and needs, so the public opinion would drive the political change. Beyond that, a whole nuclear community (utilities, authorities, suppliers, education, research, etc.) needs to recover, which is at risk of fading away.  Speaker: Martin Pache (KernD | Managing Director Westinghouse Germany) Moderator: Carlos Vázquez Rodríguez (Forschungszentrum Jülich | Chair of ENS Young Generation Network)