Newsletter XLII 2022 |
23. to 27. October
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Nuclear Power Accidents
This PDF file contains a list of known incidents from the various areas of the civil and military nuclear industry. Some of this information only came to the public in a roundabout way...
Excerpt for this month:
1 October 1981 (INES 3 NAMS 1,3) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
3 October 1986 (Broken Arrow) nuclear submarine K-219, USSR
3 October 1952 (1st British atomic bomb test) Trimouille Island, GBR
5 October 1966 (INES 4) Enrico Fermi 1, USA
7 October 1957 (INES 5 NAMS 4,6) nuclear factory Windscale/Sellafield, GBR
9 October 2006 (1st North Korean atomic bomb test) Punggye-ri, PRK
12 October 1969 (INES 4) nuclear factory Sellafield, GBR
15 October 1958 (INES 4) Boris Kidrič Institute, Vinca, YU
17 October 1969 (INES 4) Saint-Laurent, FRA
18 October 2011 (INES 1) Karachi, PAH
19 October 1989 (INES 1) Vandellos-1, ESP
30 October 1961 (Tsar Bomb AN602) Novaya Zemlya, USSR
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We are looking for current information. If you can help, please send a message to: nuclear-world@reaktorpleite.de
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27. October
Lingen fuel element factory | Russian uranium
Opponents of nuclear power are calling for an end to uranium imports from Russia
Lingen (dpa) - In the midst of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, a uranium transport from Russia reached the fuel element factory in Lingen in Emsland at the end of September. This emerges from data published on the Internet by the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE). Accordingly, enriched uranium hexafluoride was transported to Lingen on September 28th and 29th.
A spokesman for the authority confirmed the delivery on request. The authority did not provide any further information. The transport was based on permits from 2021. There is no import ban from Russia for nuclear fuels or for gas at EU level.
Nuclear power opponents in Emsland had expected the deliveries at the beginning of September, protested against this and demanded an immediate stop to uranium imports from Russia...
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WDR editor | Jurgen Doschner | Reports too critical
Accusation at the WDR: put on hold because of critical reports
A WDR journalist is suing his broadcaster for not being employed. His accusation: Because of critical reports on the Hambach Forest and other climate issues, he hardly ever gets any jobs, despite good pay. Research by CORRECTIV and Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.
When the war of aggression against Ukraine broke out, WDR editor Jürgen Döschner could have had a full order book. In the early 2000s, the journalist was head of the ARD radio studio in Moscow. He speaks fluent Russian and traveled to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in 2014 to report on the Russian military invasion of eastern Ukraine. Exactly to the nuclear power plant, whose occupation is now keeping the world in suspense. In addition, from 2011 to 2017, Döschner officially operated as an "energy expert", worked in the investigative editorial department of the WDR format "Story und Recherche" as a reporter with a focus on energy, environment and climate. A journalistic biography made for current political events and the climate crisis.
But Döschner is hardly ever used anymore, and his suggestions on WDR largely fade away. Döschner has now filed a lawsuit against his employer at the Cologne Labor Court: The accusation is "monetary compensation for non-employment", the amount in dispute is 75.000 euros...
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France | EDF | billion loss
French energy group EDF announces 32 billion euro loss
EDF has been criticized for months because of material defects and delayed repairs. Now the company has to correct its negative forecast for 2022 downwards again.
France's ailing energy group EDF announces further losses. Due to the failure of some nuclear reactors and the resulting drop in electricity volumes, the board of directors dropped its forecast for the sixth time this year and announced a minus of 2022 billion euros for 32. In September, a loss of 29 billion euros was still expected.
EDF operates a total of 56 nuclear reactors, many of which were found to be defective in the past year. Almost half of the reactors had to be shut down for maintenance, which exacerbated Europe's energy crisis. The situation was aggravated by weeks of strikes, which delayed repair work...
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France | Whistleblower | Accident | covered up
France: Accidents in nuclear power plant covered up
Investigations by a special unit of the gendarmerie in the Tricastin nuclear power plant and offices of the nuclear supervisory authority reveal that safety precautions are not at their best. It's about malfunctions of "serious importance".
The French Internet newspaper Mediapart revealed that in September the Tricastin nuclear power plant in southern France was searched, as well as the offices of the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) in Lyon.
According to the publication, it was carried out by the special unit of the gendarmerie for "crimes against public health and the environment" (OCLAESP) on behalf of the public prosecutor's office. The searches took place on September 27 and 28, 2022, as has only now become known. The events point to widespread secrecy. They have since been confirmed to other media by various sources.
The investigations are based, among other things, on information provided by a whistleblower.
Victor and Hugo and highly dangerous events
The whistleblower is an executive who is called "Hugo" to protect his anonymity in public. The authorities know his identity as well as his employer EDF...
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Lingen fuel element factory | Russian uranium
Production of nuclear fuel
Russian uranium arrived in Lingen
Since the attack on Ukraine, the EU has largely suspended its trade relations with Russia. But just like natural gas, nuclear fuels are spared from sanctions. The Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) now confirms the arrival of another Russian delivery.
In the midst of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, a uranium transport from Russia reached the fuel element factory in Lingen in Emsland at the end of September. This emerges from data published on the Internet by the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE). Accordingly, enriched uranium hexafluoride was transported to Lingen on September 28th and 29th.
A spokesman for the authority confirmed the delivery on request. The Federal Office does not provide any further information. The transport was based on permits from 2021. There is no import ban from Russia for nuclear fuels or for gas at EU level.
Nuclear power opponents in Emsland had expected the deliveries at the beginning of September, protested against this and demanded an immediate stop to uranium imports from Russia. At the time, the authorities gave little information about the exact course of the transport. The Alliance for Nuclear Power Opponents in Emsland (AgiEL) is demanding that the federal government shut down the fuel element factory in Emsland...
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Climate Crisis | CO2 methane | Weather extremes
Climate crisis: "Code Red" for the earth
16 out of 35 planetary "vital signs" have reached extreme values
Scientists are sounding the alarm: The state of the earth has now reached "Code Red" - a state of global crisis, as their report explains. According to this, 16 of the 35 examined "vital signs" of our planet have already reached extreme values that have never been measured before. In addition to record-breaking CO2 and methane values, the loss of forests and the warming of the oceans, this also includes the increasingly drastic weather extremes.
It is not the first time that scientists around the world have issued an urgent warning: as early as 1992 - 30 years ago - an international report was published warning of the impending climate change and the ongoing destruction of nature. In 2019, more than 11.000 scientists from around the world signed a declaration declaring a global climate emergency. Even then, they listed numerous indicators for the crisis.
[...]
The research team lists 35 indicators that reflect the state of the climate and the factors influencing the climate system. Among these are, on the one hand, climate-damaging influences such as population growth, increasing livestock and meat production, the use of fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation. All of these factors have continued to intensify over the past 50 years, as the scientists show...
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cooperative | renewable energy | Energy price
Strengthen renewable energies
INTERVIEW Energy cooperative relies on security when it comes to pricing
Rodgau/Rödermark – energy in the hands of the citizens is the motto of the citizens' energy cooperative Rodgau-/Rödermark (Energo). How is the small cooperative coping with the high energy prices? Volker Feldmann, one of the two board members, talks about these and other challenges.
Energy prices go up and up. Does that bring the Citizens' Energy Cooperative into trouble?
Not yet. This is due to our way of pricing. Our customers pay a basic price for the service and a heat price based on consumption. The heat price is based on the previous year's CARMEN index. This is the average price paid for wood pellets nationwide. We have a similar contract with our pellet supplier. That means we're still paying last year's price.
How have the prices for wood pellets developed?
Two years ago we were around 270 euros per ton. Now we are at 750 euros. If we bunker pellets before Christmas, then our supplier will top it up. But these are long-term contracts for 15 or 20 years and the fluctuations even out over the long term. Not much has happened with the price of pellets in recent years: it has tended to go down rather than up. Nevertheless, we have secured ourselves. It was a good idea to peg the buy price and sell price to the same index. We now have certainty about the price...
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EU member | energy climate | Climate protection
EU: Little interest in climate protection
Energy and climate - compact, part 2: EU members are on the way to missing their own climate targets. No willingness in Brussels to advance international negotiations. An important meeting in Egypt is affected.
The EU member states are still far too slow when it comes to implementing climate protection and expanding renewable energy sources. Efforts would have to be redoubled just to achieve the insufficient climate protection goals that we set for 2030. This is the result of a study by the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen.
Accordingly, despite falling greenhouse gas emissions in the medium term, the target for 2030 of reducing emissions by at least 55 percent compared to 1990 levels will be missed by a wide margin. Not to mention the goal of being climate-neutral by 2050.
Germany, for example, had already missed its self-defined target for reducing final energy consumption by 2020. There are complaints about the EU-wide growing consumption of hard coal and lignite and the investments in new fossil infrastructure, which mean a commitment for the next few years. Whereby lignite, the fuel with the most greenhouse gases per generated kilowatt hour, is burned on a large scale, especially in Germany...
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26. October
Lower Saxony | renewable energy | Climate impacts
Red-Green wants to rely entirely on renewable energies
Climate protection, business and transport: SPD and Greens presented the first plans for the red-green coalition in Lower Saxony on Wednesday evening. Climate protection in particular should be given high priority.
The SPD and the Greens have therefore agreed to significantly expand renewable energies. By 2030, at least 75 percent of energy consumption should be covered by renewable energies. In 2035, the share should be 90 percent. By 2040, no fossil fuels should be used at all. "Either made in Lower Saxony or through energy imports," SPD leader Stephan Weil made clear...
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Mini nuclear power plants: promising or uncertain and expensive?
While Germany wants to shut down its last nuclear power plants, the Czech Republic is planning Europe's first mini nuclear power plant just across the Bavarian border. Numerous other reactors are to follow. The neighbors in Lower Bavaria are concerned.
[...]
However, there is skepticism at the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management. A first safety analysis of the mini-nuclear power plants was carried out here last year. The result: The SMR are too slow, too unsafe, too expensive - and therefore neither suitable for combating climate change nor for a secure energy supply.
"We also have the situation, quite simply, that individual manufacturers assume that their systems are so safe that they would not have to carry out any further emergency protection measures in the area for the population. That is a point that we take a very critical view of." says Jochen Ahlswede from the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management ...
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World Weather Organization report
Methane values in 2021 have risen more than ever since records began
Methane is a particularly climate-damaging gas - last year the concentration in the atmosphere reached 262 percent of the level before industrialization. The cause is a mystery to experts.
Since the systematic measurement of the concentration of the greenhouse gas methane in the atmosphere began around 40 years ago, it has not increased as much as in 2021. »The reason for this extraordinary increase is not clear, but seems to be both biological and human to be attributed to the processes caused,” according to the World Weather Organization (WMO).
The concentration of methane in the atmosphere reached a high in 2021, as did that of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide - each since measurements of these greenhouse gases began...
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fracking | energy crisis | fossil
Fracking is not a solution either
Environmental organizations are calling on the federal government to uphold the fracking ban. In recent months, there has been public discussion about releasing the high-risk technology in Germany. The reason is the energy crisis.
The war in Ukraine and the climate crisis drastically show the world the fatal dependency on fossil-nuclear energies. Nevertheless, not only are investments and subsidies in renewables increasing right now, but also in fossil fuels. The backward-looking decision to continue operating non-maintained nuclear power plants in Germany for the time being also stems from the crisis debates.
Recently, voices have been raised that want to make fracking possible in Germany, more precisely in NRW. In an open letter, fifty environmental organizations, church groups and citizens' initiatives call on politicians to take a clear stance against the risky fossil mining. The phase-out of nuclear power, achieved after years of disputes, has already been postponed. The ban on fracking anchored in the Water Resources Act must be maintained and people and the environment must be protected ...
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price cap | Energy policy | fossil
The European energy transition is the better energy price cap
Gas price cap, gas surcharge, electricity price cap and the attempt to influence the oil price have one thing in common: they combat symptoms of a failed, national and fossil-based energy policy, says IKEM boss Simon Schäfer-Stradowsky in his point of view. A stable and inexpensive energy supply can only be achieved if structural reforms are finally tackled in the direction of a coordinated European energy transition.
The fact that the fossil age is drawing to a close is also reflected in the price. Irrespective of the Ukraine war, the trend has been moving towards higher costs for coal, gas and oil for some time – and this will remain the case for the foreseeable future.
In addition to the geopolitical risks associated with energy imports, this is also due to intra-European competition for fossil energy, which also takes place in an international cartel-controlled market system. Added to this are the effects of CO2 pricing, which will be felt more and more clearly in the coming years.
So far, politicians have reacted to the challenges of fossil energy supply with a great deal of understanding for the concerns of fossil fuel companies. While lavish profits are privatized in good times, the state always has to lend them a hand when things aren't going smoothly...
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energy charter | Lawsuit | renewable
France also wants out
With France, another EU country wants to say goodbye to the Energy Charter Treaty and justifies this with climate obligations. However, a German renewable energy company is currently suing the neighboring country on the basis of the contract.
"An important step demanded by many," is how French President Macron described his country's planned exit from the Energy Charter Treaty, which he announced in Brussels at the end of last week. According to the French daily Le Figaro, the French Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, described the announcement as a "strong decision in line with our climate commitments". The text of the agreement is no longer compatible with the current challenges.
Most recently, Poland, the Netherlands and Spain announced their withdrawal from the contract. The contract has been criticized by climate protection organizations for years as an instrument for securing fossil investments in energy infrastructures. However, renewable energy companies can also sue on the basis of the contract if states endanger investments made with their political measures. In the case of France, the closeness in time between a lawsuit by the German Encavis AG and the announcement of the exit is remarkable ...
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25. October
Lützerath | Garzweiler opencast mine | wind turbines demolition
Dismay at wind turbine demolition near Lützerath
The first of eight wind turbines has been demolished for the planned lignite mining at the Garzweiler opencast mine. This is not only difficult for a renowned climate researcher to endure.
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For the renowned climate researcher Mojib Latif from the Geomar Helmholtz Center in Kiel, this approach is "hardly tolerable". He told WDR: "At the moment we really need every kilowatt hour. And dismantling wind turbines now, when you don't even know whether you'll really need the coal in a few years' time, that's of course completely counterproductive ." ...
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How many wind turbines replace a nuclear power plant?
Cleanthinking corrects public and semi-public statements in the “Clean Facts” section. This is Clean Facts I.
The MIT (Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsunion) is currently drumming massively for longer running times for the six German nuclear power plants. According to Cleanthinking information, it is not (economically and technically) possible to restart the nuclear power plants that were shut down a year ago. When it comes to lobbying for nuclear power, the association always gets the numbers mixed up. But how many wind turbines now replace a nuclear power plant?
Correct is: A nuclear power plant generates about 10 billion kilowatt hours per year. That's the equivalent of 10 terawatt hours.
Wrong is: A modern onshore wind turbine generates at least 12 million kilowatt hours per year, not just eight million. For comparison: The offshore turbine V236-15 MW creates 80 million kilowatt hours per year.
For MIT's calculations, this means that you don't need 1.250 onshore wind turbines, but rather less than 835. If you take the most modern offshore wind turbines, there are only 125 wind turbines ...
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Incident at the Dukovany NPP
Greens call for decommissioning of old reactors
Litschauer (Greens): "Once again, the susceptibility of old nuclear reactors is shown"
On October 16, reactor 2 of the Dukovany NPP had to be shut down unscheduled. The technicians noticed a drop in performance in the second block, and then they found incorrect values when measuring one of the auxiliary systems. According to factory management, the cause appears to be a faulty function of the main shut-off valve seal. The reactor needs to cool down for repairs and has been shut down indefinitely. Repairing the main valve seal is said to take several weeks...
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energy charter | fossil | arbitral tribunal
Victory over fossil corporations
After Poland, Spain and the Netherlands, France now also wants to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty
Spain had recently unleashed an avalanche. Its minister for the ecological transition, Teresa Ribera, had announced the “safe” exit of the country, which had been sued in 50 cases before controversial arbitration courts within the framework of the ECT, from the contract. In the reform process, there were "no improvements" in terms of protecting fossil investments, according to Ribera. Spain is facing compensation claims of ten billion euros ...
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Ukraine | peace war | pacifist
Can only an agreement between Putin and Biden end the war?
Why a Ukrainian pacifist remained true to his principles even after Russia invaded and sharply criticized arms deliveries, as well as thoughts on conflict resolution and the Peace Prize of the German book trade.
[...]
On October 24, Ruslan Kotsaba, one of the most famous Ukrainian pacifists, took part in the tour of the Anti-War Museum. Long before the Russian army invaded Ukraine, Kotsaba was being prosecuted for his refusal to pick up a gun, was in prison and was targeted by Ukraine's extreme right.
After further charges were prepared against Kotsaba, he has now left the country. "The Ukrainian pacifist movement is illegal during the war and can only work in conspiracy. I was attacked by fascists before the war and injured my eye, but no one was charged for that," reports Kotsaba.
But in the current war situation, the danger for him and the approximately 100 members of the organization has increased enormously. Before the war, the ultra-right was controlled by the Ukrainian authorities and secret services. That control is gone now, making life extremely dangerous for people like him. That's why he doesn't want to make his current whereabouts known for the time being. By the way, Germany, like other EU countries, rejected his asylum application ...
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War in Ukraine
Dirty Bombs: What Are These Weapons?
In the Ukraine war, both warring parties accuse each other of planning to use "dirty bombs". And both deny the allegations. But what do such weapons do? And who uses them?
For the time being they are only part of the propaganda battle: Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has accused Ukraine of wanting to use "dirty bombs". Kyiv plans to launch such an attack, only to blame it on Russian forces and discredit the Russian leadership. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several Western governments have firmly denied this accusation ...
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24. October
nuclear sites | Leukaemia | KiKK
How dangerous is a nuclear power plant for health?
At the end of April 2023, the last three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany are also to be shut down. But the discussion about possible health risks from nuclear power plants in normal operation is still not over.
With regard to the continued operation of the remaining three German nuclear power plants, numerous users are asking questions about the safety of nuclear power plants. We answer the most important of them.
Is there more childhood leukemia around nuclear power plant sites?
The short answer: the data is still not clear.
The long answer: A possible connection between leukemia in children growing up near nuclear power plants has been investigated in Germany for over a decade. The study situation on the risk during normal operation of a nuclear power plant is still not clear...
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CO2 | Emissions trading | Climate protection
For several million euros
Germany is buying its way out of missed climate targets
The areas of transport and buildings in particular performed poorly: in the years 2013 to 2020, Germany missed climate targets and now has to compensate for this. State Secretary Sven Giegold finds clear words for this.
Germany missed climate targets in the years 2013 to 2020 - and now has to buy emission rights to compensate for them worth several million euros. This emerges from a statement from the Ministry of Economics, an exact sum is not mentioned in it. Specifically, it is about exceeding climate-damaging CO₂ emissions outside of European emissions trading, especially in the transport and building sectors...
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Putin | uranium dependency | nuclear industry
No sanctions for the nuclear industry
Millions for Putin: Europe's dangerous uranium dependency on Russia
Russia earns millions in Europe from uranium and fuel elements for nuclear power plants. Dependence is a ticking time bomb for EU countries: nobody knows how much longer uranium from Russia will be around. Nuclear opponents from Russia warn Europe that Putin could next use uranium as leverage.
It was early March when a Russian II-76 transport plane landed in Slovakia, despite the EU's flight ban. The plane, which is capable of transporting heavy military hardware such as tanks and artillery pieces, carried fuel assemblies for Russia's four nuclear power plants in Slovakia. While the USA and the EU are constantly agreeing on new packages of sanctions against Russia's fossil fuels, the nuclear industry has so far been spared sanctions.
The reason: Europe is heavily dependent on Russian uranium. 20 percent come from Russia, another 20 percent from Kazakhstan, which is loyal to the Kremlin. The uranium is mined and processed there by the Russian state-owned company Rosatom. A giant corporation with well over 300 subsidiaries whose ties reach deep into Germany...
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Nuclear power plants are also vulnerable to attacks
The decision to continue operating German nuclear power plants harbors new threat scenarios - for which the operators are poorly prepared.
After the sabotage attacks on the Baltic Sea natural gas pipelines and the Deutsche Bahn communication lines at the beginning of October, the vulnerability of the critical supply infrastructure came into focus. Apparently, many operators are surprisingly ill-prepared for this or can hardly prevent it due to the kilometers of lines. Nuclear plants could also be threatened ...
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Preparation | dirty bomb | false flag
False flag operation? That could be behind Russia's nuclear allegations
Russia accuses Ukraine of wanting to use a 'dirty bomb'. Zelenskyj firmly rejects the allegations and in turn accuses Russia. An overview of the events.
On Sunday afternoon it became known that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called his counterparts in Britain, France and Turkey. Shoigu has claimed that the Ukrainian government in Kyiv is planning a nuclear strike and wants to blame the Russians for it. The aim is to discredit Russia before the world public.
[...]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted promptly to Russia's allegations and firmly rejected them. Instead, Zelenskyy pointed out that Russia itself was probably preparing "something dirty" if it came up with such allegations ...
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peace war | Cuba crisis | Kennedy
Peace through World War?
When communities of destiny collide: why the danger of nuclear war increases when the opponent is to be humiliated - and how Putin sees himself and his country.
George Beebe, former CIA director of Russia, said Oct. 11 that Putin was "convinced that the US is intent not only on defeating Russia, but on eliminating it altogether as a great power rival."
That would hardly be possible without a nuclear world war...
[...]
So peace through world war?
The alternative would be what John F. Kennedy drew as the most important lesson from the Cuban Missile Crisis:
That the leaders of nuclear powers must not put one another in the position that the only choice is between humiliation and nuclear war. However, today's generation of politicians believe that military conflicts can be won and that nuclear superpowers like Russia can be defeated.
George Beebe on the realization of John F. Kennedy
As is well known, the Soviet Union withdrew its missiles from Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the height of the Cold War, after the Kennedys assured the Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin in secret negotiations that they would dismantle their missile bases in Turkey...
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23. October
Mayor election in Tübingen:
Palmer remains in office
The Mayor of Tübingen, Boris Palmer, was re-elected for a third term. He received 52,4 percent of the votes.
Boris Palmer has been re-elected mayor of Tübingen. He prevailed against his competitors with an absolute majority of 52,4 percent of the votes, as the city announced on Sunday evening after all polling stations had been counted.
Palmer's competitor Ulrike Baumgärtner (Greens) got 22 percent of the votes, Sofie Geisel (SPD, supported by the FDP) 21,4 percent of the votes. Around 69 Tübingen residents were eligible to vote. Six candidates were admitted...
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Richard David Precht meets Luisa Neubauer:
A discussion on the abyss
In conversation with Luisa Neubauer, the talk show host Richard David Precht leaves his role as questioner and monologizes. Unfortunately, the climate protection activist remains trapped in her doomsday logic
The sophist Richard David Precht has long been concerned with the question of whether democracy is a suitable political system with the help of which climate collapse can be averted. So far, he has argued that governments must quickly issue more and many bans against the climate catastrophe in order to prevent an eco-dictatorship as a logical consequence of the state of emergency of the otherwise impending climate collapse. Now Precht specified them in a television interview with climate justice activist Luisa Neubauer on Sunday. More precisely: If the rivers, water reservoirs and countless forest fires in Europe that have dried up in summer are read as harbingers of the approaching end of the world as we know it, then it was obviously time for an update for him...
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| Current news+ | Background knowledge |
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News+ October 23
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primary energy | Renewables | fossil
The fairytale story with the primary energy consumption
Renewable energies could never cover primary energy consumption in Germany, critics of the energy transition keep saying. They keep the story alive that one hundred percent green energy is not even possible for the industrial country Germany.
[...]
In the case of fossil energy carriers such as oil, coal or gas, the primary energy consumption includes the entire amount of energy that comes into the power plant or refinery.
So the coal from the opencast mine is balanced, which then goes into the boiler, where it is burned and generates steam, which in turn drives the generator via the turbine. Thermal energy is converted into mechanical and then into electrical energy.
Something gets lost along the way. Because of the conversion losses, a coal-fired power plant needs about three kilowatt hours of coal energy to ultimately generate one kilowatt hour of electricity.
The situation is different with wind, sun and hydropower: the primary source of their energy is not a coal mine or uranium ore, but ultimately a free natural force. In the energy balance, it was therefore decided that the kilowatt hours that the sun and wind feed into the grid count as "primary energy consumption".
But that shifts the proportions enormously: In the primary energy consumption, the three kilowatt hours of initial coal energy are accounted for in the same way as one kilowatt hour of wind power.
The benchmark of primary energy consumption, so popular with critics of the energy transition, distorts the real share of renewables beyond recognition. The eco share seems small, because the primary consumption contains almost all of the energy wasted by conventional power plant technology, but also, as Wetzel emphasizes, by fossil fuel combustion technology in vehicles.
With the primary energy trick, the old energy world is raised to the level of the new and used against it - if that's not a clever maneuver, what is?
| Top | |
| Current news+ | Background knowledge |
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Background knowledge
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reaktorpleite.de
Map of the nuclear world:
Renewable energies are on the rise, slowly but surely...
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The internal search for
brought the following results, among others:
December 01, 2021 - How many of our greenhouse gas emissions are we attributing to China?
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July 27, 2021 - Expansion of renewable energies - More onshore wind turbines again
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April 13, 2021 - Gas power plant: Is electricity from natural gas sustainable?
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YouTube
Keyword search: renewable energies documentary
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=erneuerbare energien doku
Videos:
Terra X - 7:38
Solar power for everyone from the desert?
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ZDFtoday - 16:27
Wind power in Germany: what opponents fear and what experts are demanding
Playlist - radioactivity worldwide ...
This playlist contains over 150 videos on the topic
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Ecosia
This search engine is planting trees!
Keyword search: primary energy consumption
https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=Primärenergieverbrauch
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Federal Environment Agency
primary energy consumption
Primary energy consumption has been declining since the early 1990s. With the exception of natural gas, the use of all conventional primary energy sources has declined since then. On the other hand, renewable energies are increasing. Their share is steadily increasing, especially since the year 2000.
Definition and influencing factors
The primary energy consumption (PEV) refers to the energy content of all energy sources used domestically. The term includes so-called primary energy sources, such as lignite and hard coal, mineral oil or natural gas, which are either used directly or converted into so-called secondary energy sources such as coal briquettes, fuels, electricity or district heating. It is calculated as the sum of all domestically produced energy sources plus the balance of the imported/exported quantities and the changes in stocks minus the stocks bunkered offshore.
The primary energy consumption is determined statistically using the efficiency principle. The quantities of energy sources (also biogenic) burned in combustion plants are multiplied by their calorific value. An efficiency of 100% is assumed for electricity from wind, hydropower or photovoltaics, 10% for geothermal energy and 33% for nuclear energy. A significantly lower PEV is calculated for renewable energies than for fossil-nuclear fuels. In times of the energy transition, this results in method-related distortions in trend analysis ...
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Wikipedia
primary energy consumption
Primary energy consumption (PEV) is the consumption of primary energy. Primary energy is the energy content of the original energy sources, e.g. B. from fuels such as coal or natural gas ...
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primary energy and final energy
Primary energy is often converted into more usable secondary energies such as electricity, district heating or fuels before it is consumed. Because these conversion losses are added, the primary energy consumption for an application is usually higher than the final energy consumption. The final energy consumption only takes into account the energy consumption of the application itself, for example the power consumption of an electrical machine. The primary energy consumption also takes into account the z. e.g. energy losses arising from the conversion of natural gas or coal into electricity ...
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Newsletter XLI 2022 - October 16th to 22nd
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