© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Bavarian Prime Minister and leader of the conservative Christian Social Union party (CSU) Markus Soeder, Bavarian Minister for Economics Hubert Aiwanger and Bavarian Science Minister Markus Blume give a statement in front of the nuclear power
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German state of Bavaria wants to continue operating nuclear power plants under state own responsibility, State Premier Markus Soeder was quoted as saying, bringing a possible comeback for the power energy Germany finished phasing out on Saturday.
The state, home to many of Germany’s most successful exporting manufacturers, wants the federal government to change the nuclear exit law to allow operating such nuclear power stations under the state’s own responsibility, Soeder said.
“Until the crisis is over, and the transition to renewables succeeds, we must use every form of energy by the end of the decade,” the prime ministry of the state was quoted as saying by Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
“Bavaria is ready to take on this responsibility,” he said, adding that Bavaria also wants to be a pioneer in nuclear fusion research and to construct of its own research reactor.
Germany pulled the plug on its last three nuclear power stations on Saturday, including Bavaria’s Isar II, ending a six-decade programme as Berlin enacts its plan for fully-renewable electricity generation by 2035.
The final wind-down, scheduled for the end of 2022, was delayed last summer to this year after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Germany to halt Russian fossil fuel imports and raised concerns about energy security supply.
Isar II, run by German utility E.ON, is a 1,400 megawatt (MW) plant, able to power the equivalent of a metropolis.
