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I highly doubt german reactors were designed to only last 35 years. Most gen II light water reactors in the US are expected to operate for 60-80 years.

Edit: ah i reread and see what you meant but my point still stands that 45 years is abnormally short for the type of reactors they had

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That's also not what I said. Germany was aiming for 45 years initially (likely planning for overhauls + recertification then, rather than shutdown). Instead they shut down at 35.

However if left as is, all of those shut down in 2011 would have been shut down by ~2020 anyways.

Many reactors can be updated to last longer than their initial design lifetime. This is usually far cheaper than building a new reactor. I expect that if the political environment in germany was more conducive to nuclear, that is what they would have done.

No, they could all have gotten 20 year extensions and operate until 2040. Nuclear reactors should be run for as long as possible because they cost so much to build but are very cheap to operate.

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