Last Friday, an Indian airliner passing over Europe lost radio contact and had to be escorted by fighter jets (it could have been a terrorist attack). As the plane passed over German reactors, some were evacuated just in case. None of them were generating power at the time. Wind power, in contrast, was strong across Europe – and there’s a downside to that, too. Craig Morris explains why. The plane lost radio contact over Hungary and was directed back to London. Czech military jets escorted it into Germany, where German fighter planes continued the escort to the Belgian border. The plane reportedly had restored radio contact by the time it entered British airspace; a spokesperson for Air India said the failure was due to “frequency fluctuation.” As the plane passed near six reactors in Germany, staff were evacuated, aside from the Krümmel reactor, where people were put in protected rooms (report in German). These precautionary measures – called a Renegade Pre-Alarm – were implemented in 2003 in reaction to 9/11. There was concern that terrorists might have … Continue reading German nuclear fleet struggles to stay online as wind sets records