WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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Just over 50 years ago,

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the Austrian government decided to build

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three nuclear reactors
along the Danube River.

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It was the age of the atom,
the height of the space race.

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Nuclear power seemed like the
natural next step for Austria.

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But politically, it was risky,

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and the decision was
extremely controversial.

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It took many years of
arguments and protests.

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But eventually, the country
held a referendum.

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The government asked
the people of Austria:

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"do you want nuclear power?"

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And the vote was on a knife-edge.

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When everything was counted,
50.5% said...

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"No".

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The trouble was, they'd already
built the first reactor,

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they just hadn't turned it on yet.

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- This nuclear power plant was
built up from 1972 to 1976.

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Everything was here.

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The power plant was ready for operation,
including the fuel rods.

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They only have to push the red button
to put it into operation.

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And then, the chancellor of Austria
decided to hold a public referendum.

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We like to say this
special nuclear power plant

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never splits any atoms,

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but people, families
and political parties.

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The capacity of the nuclear
power plant in Zwentendorf

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was 750 megawatts.

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This reactor should have
produced electricity

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for 1.8 million households.

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- So what do you do with a
never-used nuclear power plant?

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It's not like you can just
flat-pack it and ship it over the border

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to somewhere that does want it.

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And this was incredibly expensive.

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Adjusting for inflation, in today's money,
this plant cost over a billion euro.

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- When the result of the public referendum

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was mentioned on the national TV stations,

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for 200 people here in
Zwentendorf it was a shock.

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Nobody estimated this result.

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The owners, they decided
to conservate the reactor

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because they thought that politicians
will change their mind

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and they are able to put
the reactor into operation

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in one, or two, or three years.

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But that never happened.

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So in 1985, they started to
sell parts of the equipment.

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But this selling process
was not very successful,

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and today we have 99% of
the equipment still here.

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EVN bought the nuclear
power plant in 2005.

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We don't have plans now to use it.

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But if there's some day the need
for a gas-fired power plant

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or an alternative-fired power plant,
for example with biomass,

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it's a perfect location.

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In the meantime, it's a training centre
for nuclear engineers

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for training how you can
rebuild a reactor.

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We offer it as a filming location.

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We use it for music festivals,
15,000 people outside and inside.

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We installed, in 2009,
a solar power plant.

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And since 2010, we offer guided tours.

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It's open to the public.
You can book your reservation,

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but normally we are full for
six months within some minutes.

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EVN bought not only a technical building,

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we bought also a very specific piece
of Austria's contemporary history.

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Here, everything is like it
was more than 40 years ago.

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I love the special atmosphere
you have here,

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and I'm really glad to
present it to other people.

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- After the referendum, Austria went on

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to entirely ban nuclear
power within its borders,

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maybe because the residents
had concerns about accidents,

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or maybe because they didn't want to deal
with the waste and long-term planning,

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or maybe, if you believe
conspiracy theories,

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because some of the people
who ran energy companies back then

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were worried about prices dropping

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and threw a load of money
at a scare campaign.

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The story changes a lot
depending on who's telling it.

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And it is the politically easy option
to phase out nuclear power.

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Particularly now as wind and solar
continue to become more and more viable,

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a lot of countries are
phasing out nuclear.

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I shouldn't be able to stand here.

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This reactor should've
run for about 35 years,

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and now it'll be almost
finished being decommissioned.

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There'd be hardly anything left.

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Instead, we got a training centre,
a filming location,

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and, yeah, a very expensive
occasional tourist attraction.

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But perhaps most importantly,
we got a museum.

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Because this reactor doesn't
have to be decommissioned.

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It's the only one on the planet

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where this 1970s dream of the
atomic age can be preserved,

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if only by accident.

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Many, many thanks to Stefan Zach
and all the team at EVN

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who gave us so much access
to this incredible place.

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You can find out more about them
at the link in the description.