The German environment minister says delivery of German nuclear fuel to damage-prone power stations in neighbouring Belgium is legal and she can’t stop it, although she would if she could. Barbara Hendricks, a centre-left Social Democrat in a coalition government headed by centre-right Chancellor, Angela Merkel, cites a legal expertise she commissioned from administrative law professor, Wolfgang Ewer. Germany supplies fuel to reactors at Tihange, near the German-Belgian border, and Doel, 15 km north of the very busy port of Antwerp, whose metropolitan area houses around 1,200,000 people, which is second behind the capital, Brussels.
The Tihange reactor pressure vessel has thousands of cracks and both power stations have had to be repeatedly switched off because of faults. [A reactor pressure vessel contains the nuclear reactor coolant, core shroud, and the reactor core.]
Seven reactors at the two locations delivered more than 37% of Belgium’s electricity production in 2015, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Tihange is 65 kilometres across the border from the German city of Aachen, where 240,000 people live. Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands abut in a nearby corner.
From 936 to 1531, 31 Holy Roman Emperors were crowned kings of the Germans in Aachen, or Aix-la-Chapelle, most notably Charlemagne (Charles the Great), making it a major tourist attraction.
Ewer states in his appraisal “that it does not have to be ensured that the exported nuclear fuels are used according to the stipulations of the German Atomic Energy Act [§3] at the destination of the export. This requirement applies only to imports” to Germany.
The Greens in the federal parliament, citing a legal opinion they commissioned from energy attorney, Cornelia Ziehm, argue that the Act empowers the government to stop such exports if German interests are harmed.
Here are the relevant sections of the Act [§3]:
An import licence shall be granted provided that
1. there are no known facts giving rise to doubts as to the reliability of the importer, and
2. it is assured that the nuclear fuel to be imported will be used in conformity with the provisions hereof, the statutory ordinances issued hereunder and the international obligations of the Federal Republic of Germany in the field of nuclear energy.
(3) An export licence shall be granted provided that
1. there are no known facts giving rise to doubts as to the reliability of the exporter, and
2. it is assured that the nuclear fuel to be exported will not be used in such a way as to jeopardise the international obligations of the Federal Republic of Ger-many in the field of nuclear energy or the internal or external security of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Citing the export rules, The Greens had demanded in a letter to Hendricks that she stop deliveries to Tihange immediately. “Almost monthly malfunctions and thousands of cracks in the reactor pressure vessel represent a danger to Germany,” the Greens’ parliamentary floorleader, Oliver Krischer, and their nuclear policy spokeswoman, Sylvia Kotting Uhl warned.
If radioactivity were to leak out, parts of the population would be hit by a worst possible accident, they said. “If Tihange 2 is not a danger to German safety, what is?” said Uhl.
The Greens failed with a parliamentary move to have fuel deliveries stopped. The co-governing centre-right Christian Democrats and centre-left Social Democrats voted them down. The law professor hired by the ministry takes the view that exportation would not endanger internal or external German security.
Hendricks says she shares the safety concerns about the Belgian nukes and is now looking into the possibility of stopping uranium enrichment and fuel element production in Germany.
But even if that were possible, it wouldn’t stop operation of the Belgian power stations, which could obtain fuel elsewhere on the world market. Moreover, the ministry points out, a stop wouldn’t be doable short-term.
A leading regional newspaper, Cologne’s Stadtanzeiger, commented that Tihange is exemplary of the border-crossing danger of nuclear power. If there were a serious incident in Tihange with a southwest wind blowing, Aachen would be hit worst.
The Stadtanzeiger commentator quoted from a brochure published by local authorities giving tips for a serious nuclear malfunction “that would make your hair stand on end”.
But at the end of the day, he wrote, Tihange also stands for the contrariness of politics and for minister Hendricks, who rates the reactor as a danger to German citizens but does not prevent its operation by stopping the delivery of German fuel rods. “No wonder thousands want to form a human chain and the local papers are getting masses of furious readers’ letters,” he wrote.
“If there were a serious reactor malfunction our region would have to cope with considerable effects,” the crisis brochure states. No immediate damages were to be expected, but all the more in the long term, such as increased cancer incidence and deformities among newborns.
People should store enough food for 14 days and 28 litres of water per person. Windows should be sealed and one shouldn’t leave the house. In case one had to, then only with a respiratory mask of the protective category FFP3. [A manufacturer of it states that it provides “protection from poisonous and deleterious kinds of dust, smoke, and aerosols. Oncogenic and radioactive substances or pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and fungal spores are filtered by this protective class of respirator masks."]
“It’s clear that someone publishing such advice must be expecting the worst,” the Kölner Stadtanzeiger continues. “Given that, the stance of the German environment minister is puzzling. Barbara Hendricks hails from North-Rhine Westphalia [the state in which Aachen lies], she knows Tihange. For the resolute Social Democrat criticising the breakdown-reactor is a kind of point of honour. She has clearly expressed her concerns, even urging Brussels to switch off Reactor No 2.”
“Hendricks now has a problem. It’s turned out that Germany enables the “crumbling reactor” to stay in operation. The Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management is answerable to Hendricks and licensed the direct delivery of German fuel rods. The last ones arrived on 4 March 2017.
Local councillors in the border region feel left in the lurch by the federal government. “We represent almost 15 million people,” says one of them. The closer German politicians and ordinary people are to the reactors, the greater are resistance and criticism and the less party differences matter. Worries and fears rule.
But the environment ministry in Berlin, 396 kilometres air line away, cites the valid operating licence and the related contractual duty to deliver fuel rods.
That might do for a law course at university, suggests the commentator, on the theme of where does a political stance end and a politician’s duty to service state agreements begin. “But it does nothing for credibility. It seems you’ve got to be a politician to understand the minister in her inconsistency, which borders on schizophrenia. How can she approve the delivery of fuel rods if in her own words that endangers German citizens?”
To stop delivery might have entailed contractual penalties and diplomatic strife, the commentary continues, but German politics would have stayed credible. “And if a delivery stop really is so unthinkable, Hendricks had better not said anything.”
