Germany: Nuclear power plant shut down over leakage
Gulf Times
The German news agency DPA quoted a spokesman for the ministry as saying that it is expected that the Isar 2 nuclear plant in the state of Bavaria will be closed for a week to fix a leak in one of its valves so that the plant's work can be extended beyond the end of this year.
The German Ministry of Environment said that, the company operating Isar 2 nuclear power plant has informed the environment ministry of a leak at the site. The German news agency DPA quoted a spokesman for the ministry as saying that it is expected that the Isar 2 nuclear plant in the state of Bavaria will be closed for a week to fix a leak in one of its valves so that the plant's work can be extended beyond the end of this year. The spokesman added that the accident did not affect the safety of the reactor, but it must be repaired in order to be available for operation until after the end of this year. He pointed out that the ministry is studying, based on the new incident, whether it is possible to use the Isar 2 plant until mid-April as an emergency reserve for German energy production. For his part, a spokesman for the Ministry of Environment in the state of Bavaria said that the ministry classifies the incident as "not dangerous in terms of safety technology." The plans of the German Minister of Economy Robert Habeck aim to keep two of the remaining three nuclear plants, Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim, until after the end of the year and until mid-April 2023 within the backup network. Berlin had begun implementing a plan years ago to get rid of the three nuclear reactors, which provide about 6 percent of its electricity needs, as they are supposed to be out of service by the end of this year.
