Subscribe to WIRED Magazine Raw File  Photos Go Inside Germany’s
Disappearing Nuclear Power Plants  Germany has agreed to close
all of their nuclear power plants by 2022, but before that
happens, German photographer Michael Danner wanted to get in and
photograph them. Between 2007 and 2011 he visited 17 nuclear
power plants and in August he’s releasing a book of his work
called Critical Mass.  “I wanted to document these sites because
to a lot of people they are just a name or an idea,” he says.
The sites have in some ways been mythologized thanks to the
squabbles they’ve caused. In the ’70s and ’80s when nuclear
power was on the rise in Germany, hundreds of thousands of
protestors clashed with police to try and prevent construction.
Today, Germany continues to use nuclear power, but it’s still so
hotly contested, which is why the facilities are scheduled for
closure.  It was actually easier than Danner expected to get
access. Most of the plants have a full PR team that gives
regular tours. But unlike normal