Nuclear power's hidden $1 trillion problem

Nuclear power is having a big comeback after decades of decline. But it comes with a hidden cost: the enormous amount of time and money needed to decommission a nuclear power plant. We visit the (probably) most expensive civil decommissioning project in Europe to see why nuclear power can leave behind such a difficult legacy. #PlanetA #nuclear #germany Credits: Reporter: Kiyo Dörrer Video Editor: David Jacobi Camera: Henning Goll Supervising Editors: Adam Baheej Adada, Michael Trobridge Fact-Check: Holly Young Thumbnail: Adam Baheej Adada Read more: IAEA Information page on nuclear decommissioning: https://www.iaea.org/topics/decommissioning Decommissioning company’s project details and updates: https://www.ewn-gmbh.de/en/aufgaben/rueckbau/dismantling-of-greifswald-npp World Nuclear Association Database of nuclear reactors worldwide: https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-reactor-database/summary Studies referenced in the video: Recent study on decommissioning costs, multiple case study referenced in video: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032124003472 Study on U.S. nuclear plant decommissioning costs: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988323005212 Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:50 Arrival 2:08 History 3:35 Defueling and dismantling 5:03 Decontamination 7:52 Potential roadblocks 10:38 Global Context 12:25 The storage problem 14:00 Possible solutions We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. We'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess. Follow Planet A on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dw_planet