Gerald Hennenhöfer

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Gerald Hennenhöfer (born November 10, 1947 in Erfurt , Thuringia ) is a German lawyer. During the 5th Kohl cabinet, he worked as a ministerial director and head of the reactor safety department in the Federal Environment Ministry and then worked as a general representative for economic policy at the energy company Viag . After the federal election in 2009 and the inauguration of the black-yellow coalition ( Merkel II cabinet ), he was again head of the reactor safety department in the Ministry of the Environment and thus successor to Wolfgang Renneberg. At the beginning of 2014 he was recalled by the new Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks .

Life

In 1966, Hennenhöfer graduated from Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Gymnasium Bonn . Law studies and legal clerkship in Bonn.

Managing Director of the Society for Plant and Reactor Safety from 1987 to 1994

From July 1987, Hennenhöfer was appointed commercial and legal managing director of the Society for Plant and Reactor Safety (GRS) , succeeding Walter Hohlefelder . He held this office until September 30, 1994.

Head of the Reactor Safety Department from 1994 to 1998

From 1994 to 1998, under Environment Minister Angela Merkel , Hennenhöfer was head of the reactor safety department in the Federal Environment Ministry , which is responsible, among other things, for questions relating to final disposal and the enforcement of federal safety standards at German nuclear power plants. During his term of office, the emplacement of low and medium level radioactive nuclear waste in the Morsleben repository was resumed in 1994 . The Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of the Environment intervened against the storage

  • because of the lack of long-term proof of safety,
  • because the storage volume specified in the operating license was exceeded and
  • due to exceeding defined storage areas within the mine .

In a federal directive to the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of the Environment, Gerald Hennenhöfer rejected the concerns because "there are no reasons to question the stability of the storage cavities [...] in which waste is dumped". The Morsleben repository has been extensively renovated since the change of government in 1998 in order to prevent an impending collapse.

Employment at VIAG / Eon from 1998 to 2003

After the change of government in 1998, Gerald Hennenhöfer was put into temporary retirement by the Green Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin . From 1998 to 2003 he was general manager for economic policy at the energy company Viag , which merged with the VEBA group to form E.ON in 2000 . For Viag, Hennenhöfer led the negotiations with the red-green federal government on the nuclear phase-out and signed the agreements on the nuclear consensus .

Worked as a lawyer for Redeker Sellner Dahs from 2004 to 2009

In 2004 he moved to the law firm Redeker Sellner Dahs . There he advised the Helmholtz Zentrum München , the operator of the Asse II experimental repository at the time . The fee for this was almost 500,000 euros.

Furthermore, he prepared a legal opinion regarding the question of the transfer of residual amounts of electricity from newer to older nuclear power plants.

Head of the Reactor Safety Department from 2009 to 2014

In December 2009, Hennenhöfer was again head of the reactor safety department in the Ministry of the Environment, this time under Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen . To the extent that he was involved in the talks about extending the duration of the nuclear power plant , the duration of the implementation of the law had to be converted into electricity volumes. The conversations were carried out i.ü. managed by other departments.

With regard to a ruling that the Federal Administrative Court issued in 2008 on the interim storage facility at the Brunsbüttel nuclear power plant , Hennenhöfer published an article in which he criticized the judges' decision. They had deliberately defined plane crashes as dangers that can no longer be attributed to the residual risk that everyone has to bear. Defense against terrorist attacks would therefore be an enforceable right of residents. Hennenhöfer took a position against such a right of action.

In June 2010 there was an anomaly at the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant , which the operator E.ON only reported in December. A crack near the reactor core was suspected. Hennenhöfer managed to keep the reactor running for three months until the overhaul during the unexplained safety risk , although the sub-department head in the ministry was against it.

After the Tōhoku earthquake in 2011 and the resulting nuclear accidents in Fukushima , the federal states are responsible for the safety review of the 17 German nuclear power plants, which is to take place as part of a three-month nuclear moratorium on service life extensions decided by the federal government . The Federal Environment Ministry supervises them.

Chairman of the Group of Heads of European Nuclear Regulatory Authorities from 2013

The heads of the EU nuclear regulatory authorities and the EU Commission are united in the "European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group" ( ENSREG ). As of the end of May 2013, Hennenhöfer was ENSREG's chairman as the “highest radiation protection officer in the European Union”.

Retired in 2014

Hennenhöfer remained in office under Röttgen's successor, Environment Minister Peter Altmaier . In 2012 Altmaier Hennenhöfers extended employment by two years beyond the actual pension limit.

In January 2014, Hennenhöfer was retired by the new Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks . Wolfgang Cloosters, who was previously responsible for reactor safety in Schleswig-Holstein, was named as his successor.

Practice as a lawyer since 2015

Gerald Hennenhöfer has been " of counsel " at the Graf von Westphalen law firm in Berlin since July 2015 .

Appointment to the commission to review the financing of the nuclear phase-out

In October 2015, Hennenhöfer was appointed as one of 19 members of the “ Commission to review the financing of the nuclear phase-out ” decided by the federal government. The Commission should make recommendations on future funding for the decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear power plants and the management of radioactive waste. In April 2016, the Commission presented its final report, in which it recommended the creation of a fund to finance the disposal of nuclear waste. The federal government decided to comply with the recommendation and prepare a corresponding legislative initiative.

Controversy

Controversial post in the Ministry of the Environment

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Critics saw Hennenhöfer's appointment as head of the reactor safety department in the Ministry of the Environment from a representative of a nuclear energy company as the nuclear lobby's takeover of nuclear supervision. He was accused of not pursuing any security policy goals, but primarily the interests of the nuclear industry. In terms of safety, he does not differentiate between old and newer nuclear power plants and does not see the nuclear power plant operators obliged to dynamically adapt the safety level to the state of science and technology . Before his renewed term of office as head of department in the Ministry of the Environment, Hennenhöfer commented on the transfer of electricity from newer to older nuclear power plants in a legal opinion:

"The business reasons to be presented by the operator are decisive. [...] On the other hand, security issues are not relevant. "

- Gerald Hennenhöfer : Legal expert opinion on questions of § 7 paragraph 1b Atomic Energy Act of the law firm Redeker Sellner Dahs

The Hessian nuclear supervisory authority under red-green was forbidden by the Federal Ministry in 1997 under Merkel to shut down the Biblis A reactor . Instead, a retrofit program was enacted. In the 1990s, Saxony-Anhalt was forced to continue operating the Morsleben nuclear waste storage facility . Today the pit is considered to be in danger of collapsing.

The legal scholar Alexander Roßnagel considers Hennenhöfer's involvement in questions about the nuclear consensus to be illegal due to his previous work for the energy company. The German Environmental Aid referred to the § 20 Administrative Procedure Act , which Hennenhöfer should be excluded from certain administrative acts due to his previous position. Among other things, Hennenhöfer's participation in the negotiation of the funding agreement that was agreed between the Federal Ministry of Finance and the energy companies was criticized . The legal validity of the contract is therefore controversial among lawyers.

Contamination scandal

In the spring of 1998 it became known that radiation far above the permissible limit values ​​had been measured on several nuclear waste transport containers for years due to external contamination and that the Ministry of the Environment and the Department for Reactor Safety and Radiation Protection headed by Hennenhöfer had known about the increased radiation values ​​since the mid-1980s.

Cover-up allegations about the Asse nuclear waste storage facility

Hennenhöfer is accused of having advised the operating company of Asse II during his time at the Redeker law firm to cover up the conditions in the ailing nuclear waste storage facility from the population and the Lower Saxony state parliament. He wrote in a document that was available to the Frankfurter Rundschau :

"There is absolutely nothing to be said about continuously teaching the Asse accompanying group."

The Asse support group was founded to inform the citizens of the region about the dangers and plans for the Asse remediation and to include them in further planning.

Allegations of political corruption

Before the investigative committee of the Hessian state parliament, “Investigative Committee 19/1”, the former head of the “Federal Supervision of Nuclear Power Plants” working group in the Federal Environment Ministry, Gerrit Niehaus, accused Hennenhöfer of sending a legally incorrect justification for the shutdown of nuclear power plants - despite the existence of a legally compliant reason what basis has become a claim for damages in the amount of € 882 million by nuclear power plant operators.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lower Saxony Landtag, 16th electoral period. Minutes of the public part of the 50th meeting of the 21st Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry on June 17, 2010 Hanover, State Parliament building.
  2. ↑ Environment Minister Röttgen brings in atomic loyalists . Süddeutsche Zeitung ; Retrieved March 18, 2011
  3. ↑ Organizational chart of the Reactor Safety Department at the BMU ( Memento from March 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 18, 2011
  4. ^ Controversial expert: Environment Minister Hendricks dismisses chief nuclear supervisor . Spiegel Online , January 16, 2014; accessed on January 16, 2014.
  5. ↑ a b Energy and Power . In: Berliner Zeitung , July 3, 2007
  6. ↑ Merkel's legacy . In: Der Spiegel . No. 43 , 2008 ( online ).
  7. ↑ Gerald Hennenhöfer: nuclear lobbyist becomes chief radiation protection officer . EXPRESS - Politics & Economy; Retrieved March 18, 2011
  8. ^ Legal concerns against designated nuclear overseer . In: Berliner Zeitung , January 11, 2010
  9. ↑ The poker for 17 nuclear reactors . In: Die Zeit , No. 13/2011, Dossier
  10. ↑ BMU - 2007-699 - Legal problems of the amount of electricity transfer According to § 7 Abs. 1b to 1d AtGesetz, Author: Prof. Dr. Joachim Wieland; Institute for Public Law; Johann Wolfgang Goethe University; Frankfurt am Main
  11. ^ Environment Minister Röttgen brings nuclear lobbyists Süddeutsche Zeitung from November 30, 2009
  12. ↑ a b c nuclear lobbyist as nuclear power overseer . In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 9, 2011
  13. ↑ Nuclear power - very close to the heart . In: Der Spiegel . No. 3 , 2011 ( online ).
  14. ↑ Irregularity in the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant: Berlin is taking risks. Frankfurter Rundschau from January 20, 2011
  15. ↑ Questions about the RS department head in the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Answer of the Federal Government to the minor question from MPs Sylvia Kotting-Uhl , Dorothea Steiner , Cornelia Behm , other MPs and the Alliance 90 / THE GREENS parliamentary group , printed matter 17/11788 of December 7, 2012 (PDF)
  16. ↑ Gerald Hennenhöfer in the Nordwest-Zeitung , March 18, 2011
  17. ↑ a b A lobbyist as controller . In: Friday , 10. June 2013
    BMU department head Hennenhöfer Chairman of the Head of the EU nuclear regulators ( Memento of 28 March 2014 Internet Archive ), press release of the BMU from May 29, 2013
    from Statement Gerald Hennenhöfer, Chairperson of ENSREG, Following the Group's 24th meeting of 28th May 2013 }, ensreg.eu
  18. ↑ Open ears, empty hands in the taz of January 23, 2013
  19. ↑ Burning Barbara fires the world's top nuclear overseer on January 16, 2014
  20. ^ The nuclear supervisor ( Memento from March 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 21, 2014
  21. ↑ Energy and nuclear law experts complete the ambitious GvW energy industry team. Business law firm Graf von Westphalen, July 7, 2015, accessed on August 5, 2015 .
  22. ^ Commission: Financing the nuclear phase-out, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
  23. ↑ Cabinet approves important energy projects. bmwi.de, accessed on June 24, 2014.
  24. ↑ Private matter nuclear waste repository?  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.heute.de   ZDF today from September 22, 2010
  25. ↑ a b Criticism of the new environment minister: "Made the goat to the gardener" . Frankfurter Rundschau from December 1, 2009
  26. ↑ Nuclear lobbyist becomes head of the department for reactor safety - Röttgen shows his colors taz of December 2, 2009
  27. ↑ Free ticket also for ancient reactors - wdr.de ( Memento from February 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Monitor from January 28, 2010
    Video of the monitor contribution , excerpts from the report from 4min30s
  28. ^ Renewed federal instruction to Hesse regarding the Biblis nuclear power plant , BMU PM from 1997
  29. ↑ Federal Ministry for the Environment takes another step to close Morsleben: Merkel's instructions for continued operation canceled , PM of the BMU from 2000
  30. ↑ In it Roßnagel says literally: “It is very difficult for the department head Hennenhöfer to be active in these questions because he was involved in the agreement of the nuclear consensus for the energy supply companies. And all questions that are covered by the atomic consensus are matters where it is excluded by law. "" If he participates in it, the result is illegal. " Free ticket for ancient reactors - wdr.de ( Memento from 3. February 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  31. ↑ Controversial nuclear supervisor: The "evil appearance" of partisanship . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , January 10, 2010
  32. ↑ The Castor scandal shows: self-regulation of the nuclear industry is not enough . In: Die Zeit , No. 23/1998
  33. ^ Committee of Inquiry 19/1 ( Memento from March 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Hessischer Landtag
  34. ^ Nuclear power in Germany. Critical officials shut down . In: Die Tageszeitung , March 8, 2015. Accessed March 8, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Hennenhöfer, Gerald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German civil servant, head of the reactor safety department in the Federal Environment Ministry (1994–1998 and from 2009)
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Erfurt , Thuringia