How will Germany transition to renewables without using coal and imported nuclear?

How will Germany exit nuclear without using more coal?

Within four decades, one of the world’s leading economies will be powered almost entirely by wind, solar, biomass, hydro, and geothermal power. But can Germany really achieve these targets without resorting to fossil fuels? Some of these questions were recently addressed in a joint article by Arne Jungjohann, Program Director for Environment and Global Dialogue with the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Wilson Rickerson, CEO of Meister Consultants Group. Some excerpts follow: 

“The old nuclear power plants had been a bottleneck for greater investment. With the planned phase out of all nuclear power capacity, investors are lining up to put more renewable energy and high-efficiency natural gas plants in place. Overall, CO2 emissions will not rise as the energy sector has to comply with the European Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the associated emissions cap.”

Germany already had an aggressive renewable energy program in place. For example, “Germany has installed 17,000 MW of PV to date which amounts to more than half of the world’s total, including over 7,400 MW of new PV capacity in 2010 alone. . .The previous target of 30% renewable electricity by 2020 has recently been updated by Germany’s official National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP). The NREAP reveals that the country expects to actually generate 38% of its electricity from renewables by 2020.”

Germany also sees the transition to renewable energy as the most beneficial pathway economically. “As Germany’s Minister of Environment recently stated:

It is economically nonsensical to pursue two strategies at the same time, for both a centralized and a decentralized energy supply system, since both strategies would involve enormous investment requirements. I am convinced that the investment in renewable energies is the economically more promising project. . .

“Three cornerstones will play a crucial role in Germany’s energy transition: an even stronger growth of renewables; the ramp-up of smart grids, efficiency technologies, and battery and storage technologies; and temporary more flexible natural gas.” Read the full article for more information or visit the website of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Japan finally admits full meltdowns at three Fukushima reactors

After almost three months of speculation, Japan's Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters (NERH) finally admitted on Monday that units 1,2 and 3 at th Fukushima I nuclear power plant fully melted down. TEPCO, the owner of the reactors, studiously avoided the word "meltdown," instead issuing vague speculative statements about possible "partial" meltdowns, but the evidence has become too incontrovertible to deny. The NERH announcement goes farther than previous, downplayed statements, and reveals that Japanese authorities concealed the truth even though the meltdowns occurred during the first week after the March 11 accident began.

Japanese federal agencies none too "SPEEDI" at admitting truth about meltdowns, radioactivity releases

Hidehiko Nishiyama has been a lead spokesman for Japan’s NISA since the catastrophe began.Japan's NHK public broadcasting has reported that despite a pledge to release all such data, Japan's federal science ministry and nuclear regulatory agency failed to disclose results, generated in the first days of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe nearly three months ago, of projections about radioactivity spread. The computer program called "SPEEDI" had been used in the first days of the unfolding catastrophe to project radioactivity dispersal, accounting for such variables as weather patterns and topography. NHK also reports that despite having detected radioactive tellurium in the environment -- a sure sign of a reactor meltdown -- Japan's federal Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) nonetheless announced at a press conference on March 12th that the nuclear fuel in the reactor cores was still intact. In addition, just four days after the nuclear catastrophe had began, NISA already had in hand data showing extremely high levels of hazardous radioactive iodine-131 nearly 40 kilometers away from Fukushima Daiichi. Such information, critics now charge, could have greatly enhanced radioactivity protection measures, such as expanded evacutation zones, especially for vulnerable children and pregnant women. NISA has expressed "regret" for concealing the information.

Temporary containers to store highly radioactive water rushed to Fukushima Daiichi

Japan's NHK public broadcasting reports that 370 containers, each capable of storing 100 to 120 tons of water (video still at left), are being rushed to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant as fears grow that storage space for 105,000 tons of highly contaminated radioactive water -- the result of months of desparate attempts to cool three melted down reactor cores, as well as multiple storage pools for high-level radioactive water. USA Today reports that storage space for highly contaminated radioactive cooling water could run out by June 20th -- or even sooner -- if expected heavy seasonal rains arrive, causing uncontrollable overflow that could yet again spill directly into the ocean. In addition to unintentional releases of radioactive water into the ocean via cracks apparently caused by the March 11th earthquake, several weeks ago Tepco intentionally discharged 11,500 tons of radioactive water into the ocean, in order to free up storage space for even more contaminated cooling water -- orders of magnitude more radioactive than what was intentionally released into the ocean. Such radioactivity releases into the ocean likely explain the worsening contamination of ocean water, edible seaweed, and numerous marine animal species.

Lethally radioactive steam escaping from floor crevice near Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 reactor primary containment

Blurry video filmed by remotely controlled robot showing extremely highly radioactive steam escaping from crevice in floor near Reactor Unit 1 core and primary containment structureUSA Today reports radiation dose rates as high as 400 Rem per hour near the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 "suppression pool" -- part of the primary radioactivity containment structure -- near the melted down reactor core. Exposure to such high level gamma radiation could deliver a lethal dose in an hour, or less for certain more vulnerable persons. Protective suits do not protect workers from gamma radiation, which, similar to X rays, simply blasts through such thin material. "Nationally televised news Saturday showed blurry video of steady smoke curling up from an opening in the reactor floor" begs the question, has the molten core melted all the way through the reactor pressure vessel? Has it even melted all the way through the primary containment structure? Can this be defined as a "China Syndrome" situation? If it has, then molten core would now be in the secondary reactor containment building, destroyed by the March 12 hydrogen gas explosion, and open to the sky. This would represent direct pathways for large-scale releases of hazardous radioactive gases, volatile radioactive particles, and other radioactive poisons carried along with escaping steam. Japan's NHK World reports that at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 reactor, "holes in the pressure vessel and damaged...containment vessel, causing highly contaminated water to leak out and accumulate in the basement," is the source of the extremely highly radioactive steam escaping from a crevice in the floor -- filmed by a remotely controlled robot.