16.08.2022, Niedersachsen, Lingen (Ems): Jens Spahn (CDU), stellvertretender Fraktionsvorsitzender, posiert vor dem Kernkraftwerk Emsland. Spahn hat die SPD aufgefordert, einer Laufzeitverlängerung des niedersächsischen Kernkraftwerkes Emsland zuzustimmen. Foto: Lino Mirgeler/dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

The deputy chairman of the Union faction, Jens Spahn, has called on the SPD to agree to an extension of the term of the Emsland nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony. “This politically motivated blockade must finally be abandoned. Germany and Europe urgently need this electricity in winter,” said the CDU politician on Tuesday when he visited the power plant in Lingen.

According to the operator RWE, a so-called stretching operation is possible until April 2023 – contrary to what the responsible SPD minister in Lower Saxony claims.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz recently called for the three nuclear power plants Isar 2 in Bavaria, Emsland in Lower Saxony and Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg, which remained on the grid until December 31, to be allowed to run beyond the turn of the year 2023/24.

Spahn now said: “The record prices clearly show that we are also in an electricity crisis. A stretching operation of the Emsland nuclear power plant would therefore be correct.”

Albert Stegemann, member of the Lower Saxony CDU Bundestag, said that the Emsland nuclear power plant is the most modern nuclear power plant in Germany and that it supplies electricity safely and reliably. “If it’s technically possible and we make ourselves less susceptible to blackmail – as we are currently experiencing from Russia – then temporary continued operation makes sense.”