Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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: iaea.org/topics/decommissioning
Decommissioning company’s project details and updates: ewn-gmbh.de/en/aufgaben/rueckbau/dismantling-of-greifswald-npp
World Nuclear Association Database of nuclear reactors worldwide: world-nuclear.org/nuclear-reactor-database/summary
Studies referenced in the video: Recent study on decommissioning costs, multiple case study referenced in video: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032124003472
Study on U.S. nuclear plant decommissioning costs: 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: tiktok.com/@dw_planet
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: iaea.org/topics/decommissioning
Decommissioning company’s project details and updates: ewn-gmbh.de/en/aufgaben/rueckbau/dismantling-of-greifswald-npp
World Nuclear Association Database of nuclear reactors worldwide: world-nuclear.org/nuclear-reactor-database/summary
Studies referenced in the video: Recent study on decommissioning costs, multiple case study referenced in video: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032124003472
Study on U.S. nuclear plant decommissioning costs: 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: tiktok.com/@dw_planet
