IEEE Spectrum July, 2009 - Cover3

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ity in federal elections this fall. It would
be a bitter pill for German antinuclear
activists. But most of their fellow citi‑
zens seem ready to compromise.
The German Physical Society, a scien‑
tific body that has been preoccupied with
the dangers of climate change since the
early 1980s, has pleaded for continued
use of nuclear energy. In 2005, the soci‑
ety assessed Germany's energy options
and calculated that only a nuclear exten‑
sion would enable it to meet its 2020
goals for CO 2 reduction. The society
predicted then, correctly, that the sup‑
ply of offshore wind energy would fall
well short of the government's projec‑
tions. It concludes in its report (and has
repeatedly confirmed) that no other mea‑
sure even comes close to making up for
the increased carbon emissions from
coal that the nuclear phaseout would
stimulate: "Whilst originally we had
hoped to have sufficient leeway to com‑
pensate for the loss of CO 2 ‑free electric‑
ity derived from nuclear power, today we
are forced to realize that such an equa‑
tion will not balance out."
"I think I could live with that," agrees
Brunsbüttel‑area resident Stephan Klose
when asked about keeping nuclear alive.
Klose lives 12 km south of Brunsbüttel's
cutting‑edge wind turbines, its pro‑
posed coal‑fired power plants, and its
33‑year‑old nuclear reactor, which has
two more years of operation left before
its scheduled shutdown. He likes renew‑
able energy and fiercely opposes more
reliance on coal.
Shutting down reactors, reasons
Klose, will not resolve challenges posed
by nuclear power, such as the long‑term
management of spent fuel rods. "We
have the nuclear waste anyhow," says
Klose. But last year he joined a local
group working against coal, because
he believes that coal‑fired generators in
Brunsbüttel will pollute the area with
mercury and contribute to global climate
change. The climate concern has a par‑
ticular resonance in this marshy region
where sinking dikes stand between com‑
munities and the swiftly rising sea levels
that these people fear.
As for carbon capture and storage
neutralizing the climate risk, Klose says
no way, raising the specter of sequestered
CO2 escaping to the surface and causing
mass asphyxiation. "If there's a leak and
you have a 1‑ to 2‑meter‑high level of CO2 ,
every animal, every human being within
this zone will die," says Klose. "I think
you can't take that risk."
o
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum July, 2009
