ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses a fundamental judicial concept of the so-called Restrisiko (i.e. a risk that cannot be avoided) that enhances the assurance of energy security by the nuclear power sector. The essence of this concept is an assumption that as long as the legal framework regulating nuclear energy fulfils conditions formulated in that judgment, each citizen must accept risks resulting from the nuclear energy sector. Accepting those risks is an inherent element of social order that citizens must bear when living in a society. This concept has been developed in the jurisprudence of the Federal Constitutional Court – with its first appearance in 1978 in the so-called Kalkar I judgment. Although this concept has been considered controversial, the Court has consistently applied it for decades in cases concerning nuclear energy (even after the Fukushima accident).
