The Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Plant (Kernkraftwerk Grafenrheinfeld, or KKG but the Gösgen plant in Switzerland shares the abbreviation) is located near Grafenrheinfeld, south of Schweinfurt in Main. Commencement of construction was in 1974, start-up took place 1981. It is a German third generation PWR with an electrical net power of 1345 megawatts. E.ON is the operator with a location in Hanover. The two cooling towers with a height of 143 m are visible from far away. Like with almost all other nuclear plants, emporary storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel are present on site. There is an information center at the power station.

In the anti-nuclear children's book Die Wolke (1987), the power plant undergoes a fictional meltdown.

Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Plant
Official name	Kernkraftwerk Grafenrheinfeld
Country	Germany
Locale	Grafenrheinfeld
Construction began	January 1, 1975
Commission date	December 21, 1981
Owner(s)	E.ON
Operator(s)	E.ON
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1 x 1,345 MW
Reactor type(s)	PWR
Reactor supplier(s)	Siemens
Turbine information
Manufacturer(s)	Siemens
Power generation information
Installed capacity	1,345 MW
Annual generation	9,425 GW·h
Net generation	235,027 GW·h

Emsland Nuclear Power Station is a nuclear reactor located in the district of Emsland, Germany just south of the Lingen plant. The reactor has 193 fuel elements totaling a core weight of 103 tons. It is a Konvoi type reactor, and is said to be one of the safest German nuclear power stations.

Emsland Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Locale	Emsland
Status	Operational
Construction began	1982
Commission date	June 20, 1988
Owner(s)	87.5% RWE 12.5% E.ON
Operator(s)	KKW Lippe-Ems
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1 x 1,363 MW
Reactor type(s)	PWR
Reactor supplier(s)	Siemens
Turbine information
Manufacturer(s)	Siemens
Power generation information
Installed capacity	1,363 MW
Annual generation	11,148 GW·h
Net generation	198,829 GW·h

Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Geesthacht near Hamburg, Germany. It was taken into operation in 1983 and is owned 50% by Vattenfall and 50% by E.ON, and operated by the Swedish Vattenfall. Its gross power production is 1,401 MW, using a boiling water reactor. The reactor is the world's largest of its type in commercial operation.

Since 1986, an overly high number of cases of leukemia have been found in the area around the power plant. While Krümmel has been suspected, it has not been possible to establish the cause of the cases.

On June 28, 2007, a short circuit caused a fire in the transformer of the power plant and required the plant to be shut down. Power outages were experienced in the neighboring areas. The sequence of events caused the dismissal and resignation of several Vattenfall Europe AG employees.

On June 21, 2009, the Krümmel reactor was restarted for the first time since the 2007 fire, and the plant started to produce electricity again but was shutdown for the second time on July 4, 2009, only a few days after its two year long repair-period. The shutdown was caused by a short-circuit in a transformer that was very similar to what caused the June, 2007 fire. The reactor shut down normally and was not affected, but it will be another year before the plant can re-open again because new transformers will not be available until April or May 2010. The plant's general manager resigned. In a press conference July 9, Ernst Michael Züfle, head of the nuclear division of Vattenfall, acknowledged that there was damage to "perhaps a few fuel elements." Even before the shutdown, foreign bodies—sharp shards of metal from earlier work that should have been flushed—were found to have ended up, potentially dangerously, in the reactor and had, to some degree, been cleaned out. On July 7, Wulf Bernotat, CEO of E.on, wrote in a sharply worded letter to Vattenfall management in Sweden that his company was "appalled" by the handling of safety procedures at the plant, according to a lengthy report in Spiegel. The report went on to discuss how the accident could impact the German national debate about nuclear power plant license extensions.

Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Status	Mothballed
Construction began	1974
Commission date	September 28, 1983
Owner(s)	50% E.ON 50% Vattenfall
Operator(s)	Vattenfall
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1,402 MW
Reactor type(s)	BWR
Reactor supplier(s)	Siemens
Turbine manufacturer(s)	Siemens
Power generation information
Installed capacity	1,402 MW
Annual generation	10,178 GW·h
Net generation	195,922 GW·h

Unterweser Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Kleinensiel (Municipality of Stadland), in close proximity to Nordenham.

When it first started up, it was the largest nuclear reactor in the world. It has 193 fuel assemblies. In 2004, the measured radioactivity released into the air amounted to 3.8 TBq/a for all radionuclides, and 14 TBq/a in the water.

Unterweser Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Construction began	July 1, 1972
Commission date	September 29, 1978
Operator(s)	E.ON
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1 x 1,410 MW
Power generation information
Annual generation	8,891 GW·h
Net generation	264,888 GW·h

The Grohnde Nuclear Power Plant is located in Hamelin-Pyrmont in Lower Saxony. It has one reactor that uses 193 fuel assemblies and utilizes both Enriched Uranium and MOX fuel. In the years 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1998 the reactor produced the most net electricity for the respective year than any other reactor in the world. The Plant is of the pressurized water reactor type, using four water based coolant cycles, kept under high pressure.

Grohnde Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Construction began	1975
Commission date	September 4, 1984
Owner(s)	83.3% E.ON 16.7% Stadtwerke Bielefeld
Operator(s)	GKKG Grohnde
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1 x 1430 MW
Power generation information
Annual generation	10,996 GW·h
Net generation	235,649 GW·h

Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant (Kernkraftwerk Brokdorf, or KBR) is close to the municipality of Brokdorf in Steinburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It started in October 1986 by a first-of-its-kind joint venture between PreussenElektra and Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke. During the construction phase in the 70's and 80's, there were violent protests against nuclear power at the location.

The Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant is a pressurized water reactor with uranium dioxide fuel elements, which are used in degrees of enrichment of 1.9%, 2.5% and 3.5%. It also uses MOX fuel. There are 193 fuel assemblies In the reactor, with a total heavy-metal weight of 103 tons. The power station has a thermal output of 3765 MW, as well as an electrical output of 1440 MW. It belongs to the 3rd PWR generation in Germany. With a net generation of just under 12 billion a kWh, it was the worldwide leader in 2005.

The decommissioning of the plant is planned for 2018.

Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Locale	Brokdorf, Steinburg
Status	Operational
Construction began	1975
Commission date	October 14, 1986
Owner(s)	E.ON (80%) Vattenfall Europe (20%)
Operator(s)	E.ON
Constructor(s)	Siemens
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1 x 1,440 MW
Reactor type(s)	PWR
Reactor supplier(s)	Siemens
Turbine information
Manufacturer(s)	Siemens
Power generation information
Installed capacity	1,440 MW
Annual generation	11,459 GW·h
Net generation	197,402 GW·h

The Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant (abrv. KGR in German), also known as Lubmin Nuclear Power Plant, was the largest nuclear power station in East Germany before closure shortly after the German reunification. The plants were of the VVER-440/V-230 type, which was the first generation of Soviet Union designed plants. The site is located in Greifswald in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

In the late 1989 nuclear regulatory bodies of countries operating VVER plants did a safety analysis and produced numerous requirements for backfitting old safety systems, which were stated to have been necessary in almost all areas. All reactors were closed soon after the reunification, with restart conditional on conforming to stricter and very different West Germany safety standards. There was a public discussion about the safety of the power station.

Convinced that backfitting to the new safety standards was not economically feasible, the new unified German government decided in early 1991 to decommission the four units, close Unit 5, which was undergoing testing at the time, and halt construction of the rest of the units there plus two VVER-1000s at the Stendal Nuclear Power Plant.

The district heating from the plant was made up by oil imports and in 1995 by a new natural gas plant. Decommissioning of units 1 through 5 began in 1995, making Greifswald one of the first nuclear power stations in Germany to go through the process.

The Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant came into focus again in 1996 when it was decided to move 235 unspent fuel assemblies to the Hungarian Paks Nuclear Power Plant, which could be done since it is of the same design.

At the peak of the plants operation, about 10,000 people were employed full time there. Currently, there are still about 1,000 working on decommissioning and other activities at the site.

Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant Reactor

Unit	Type	Net Power	Commercial operation	Shut down
Greifswald - 1 (KGR 1)	WWER-440/230	408 MW	12.07.1974	14.02.1990
Greifswald - 2 (KGR 2)	WWER-440/230	408 MW	16.04.1975	14.02.1990
Greifswald - 3 (KGR 3)	WWER-440/230	408 MW	01.05.1978	28.02.1990
Greifswald - 4 (KGR 4)	WWER-440/230	408 MW	01.11.1979	22.07.1990
Greifswald - 5 (KGR 5)	WWER-440/213	408 MW	01.11.1989	24.11.1989
Greifswald - 6 (KGR 6)	WWER-440/213	408 MW	-	-
Greifswald - 7 (KGR 7)	WWER-440/213	408 MW	-	-
Greifswald - 8 (KGR 8)	WWER-440/213	408 MW	-	-

Incidents

• December 7, 1975 - An electrician wanted to show his apprentice how to bridge electrical circuits. He decided to do a short-circuit on the primary winding one of the Unit 1 pumps by developing an arc following the edge of a wiring loom. The fire in the main trough destroyed the current supply and the control lines of 5 main coolant pumps (a single unit has 6 pumps). The fire was brought under control fast by the fire-brigade and the pumps could be temporarily repaired since the proper actions were taken immediately. After this near disaster, fire protection within the power station was substantially strengthened and separate electrical lines for each pump were introduced. The case was only released to the public in 1989. A few hours after the incident the IAEA was already informed by Soviet authorities, which classified the accident under INES 4.

November 24, 1989 - A near core meltdown occurs. It's the fifth and last dangerous incident at the plant. Three out of six cooling water pumps were switched off for a test. A fourth pump broke down and control of the reactor was lost; 10 fuel elements were damaged. The accident was reportedly attributed to sticky relay contacts.

Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany, previously East Germany
Locale	Greifswald
Status	Decommissioned
Construction began	1967
Commission date	July 12, 1974
Decommission date	July 22, 1990
Operator(s)	Energiewerke Nord
Reactor information
Reactors decom.	5 x 440 MW
Reactors cancelled	3 x 440 MW
Reactor type(s)	VVER
Reactor supplier(s)	Atomenergoexport Škoda
Turbine information
Manufacturer(s)	Škoda Electrosila
Power generation information
Annual generation	10,678 GW·h
Net generation	134,212 GW·h

Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Station is a nuclear power plant in Neckarwestheim, Germany. It is sometimes abbreviated GKN (Gemeinschaftskraftwerk Neckar).

Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant 1

The nominal electrical power of block I, in service since 1976, is 840 megawatts. The 50 Hz three phase AC power is 567 megawatts and for the 16.7 Hz traction current power 174 MW. The traction current generator is the world's largest electrical generator for single phase AC. The generator block 1 is rated 21,000 volts at a current of 27,000 amperes, and the traction current generator is rated 14,500 volts and a current of 12,000 amperes. The current produced by the generators is stepped up to 220 kilovolts (three-phase alternating current) and/or 110 kilovolts (traction current) with the machine transformers. Block I is the only nuclear power station which produces traction current.

Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant 2

The nominal electrical power of block 2, in service since 1988, is 1400 megawatts. The generator produces 50 Hz three-phase alternating current with a voltage of 27,000 V and a current of 35,000 amperes. Unlike Unit 1, no dedicated traction current generation takes place, but some of the power produced is converted at the traction current substation. This is transmitted through the 380 kV generator transformer block of the II and the 380 kV-machine transformer of the motor-generator sets.

Traction current converter plant

The GKN station also has a 16.7 Hz traction current converter plant. The traction converter plant at Neckarwestheim, which is situated close to the switchgear of block II, has two identical sets, consisting of a three-phase 50 Hz AC motor with 12 poles and a four pole single phase 16.7 Hz AC synchronous generator. The rated voltage of the three-phase AC asynchronous machine and the traction current machine is 12.5 kV. The set has a length of 17.5 meters and a maximum width of 7 meters. The nominal power rating for each set is 70 megawatts, which are the largest traction current motor-generator sets ever built. The traction current converter plant feeds the 110 kV balanced line traction power network through appropriate transformers. Power can be transferred from the Block II nuclear generator over the 380 kV transmission network.

Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant Dimensions

Dimensions of the reinforced concrete building are:

• Height: 26.80 m
• total width: 40.4 m
• width cultivation: 12 m
• height cultivation: 19.25 m
• machinery building: 42.40 m
• of overall length: 52.40 m

Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant Cooling towers

In order to avoid overheating of the river Neckar, both blocks have cooling towers. These are not built in the usual way. Block I uses two rows of cell cooling towers. Each row has a length of 186.8 meters and a height of 18 meters. Block II uses a hybrid cooling tower with a height of 51.22 meters. It was originally going to use a wet cooling tower, but then it was later decided to use dry cooling towers because it would have a smaller effect on the environment (though would be more expensive). This unique type of cooling tower causes the unique shape seen in pictures.

Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant Hybrid cooling tower

• Overall height: 51.22 m
• overall height over basin level: 48.0 m
• mouth diameter: 160.0 m
• basin diameter: 120.0 m
• chimney height: 24.97 m
• air outlet diameter: 73.6 m
• cooling performance: 2500 MW

Malfunctions

• In 1977 block I had the second most serious incident of a nuclear power plant in the German Federal Republic to that date. Numerous errors of a new crew led to damage of the secondary cycle and, at the same time, a defect of a valve led to an automatic reactor shutdown.
• 27 July 2004: Water contaminated with two megabecquerels leaked unnoticed from block II into the Neckar river. As a result, for the first time in the Federal Republic, the operator company of a nuclear power plant paid a fine of 25,000 Euro and a managing director was dismissed.

Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant Powerlines

Power produced at GKN is transmitted over a transmission line carrying two circuits of traction current and three-phase alternating current line to the 220 kV-three phase AC and the 110 kV-traction current switchyard situated east of Neckarwestheim. This line is hung on pylons of unusual design with five cross beams. On the lowest cross bar there are two traction current circuits, while the second, third and fourth cross beam carry the three-phase circuits. These are operated, in the case of the GKN 1, with 220 kV and in the case of the GKN 2 with 380 kV. On the highest cross beam two ground conductors are installed. It is notable that the traction current circuits were insulated for 220 kV, although they are operated only with 110 kV. This measure was taken because, in case of a disturbance of the parallel 380 kV-line, overvoltages can occur which insulation designed for 110 kV cannot stand.

The traction current lines from the GKN to the traction current switching station at Neckarwestheim, and from there to the central substation in Stuttgart Zazenhausen, are implemented as four-bundle conductors.

The three-phase 380 kV circuit leading away from the nuclear power station GKN 2 runs past the 220 kV-three phase switchyard at Neckarwestheim to the transformer station at Großgartach near Heilbronn. To the GKN also runs another 110 kV-line for three phase AC with one circuit, which originates in the switchgear of the coal fired power station at Walheim. This line is not for transport of the power produced by the GKN, but for start-up power for the nuclear plant.

It is also notable that Neckarwestheim and the GKN never had a track connection to the railway network.

Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Locale	Neckarwestheim
Construction began	1971
Commission date	May 26, 1976
Owner(s)	EnBW
Operator(s)	EnBW
Reactor information
Reactors operational	2 reactors
Power generation information
Installed capacity	2,235 MW
Annual generation	17,060 GW·h
Net generation	354,779 GW·h

The Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant is located in Philippsburg in Karlsruhe (district). It houses two units, the first a BWR and the second a PWR.

For the first unit, parts made for the cancelled Wyhl plant were used. The second unit was originally planned to be a BWR as well but plans later changed. Final disconnection for both units is scheduled for 2011 for unit 1 and 2017 for unit 2.

Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Construction began	1970
Commission date	May 7, 1979
Operator(s)	EnBW
Reactor information
Reactors operational	2 x 1192 MW
Power generation information
Annual generation	17,845 GW·h
Net generation	385,424 GW·h

Isar river, two base load nuclear power plants have been built, called Isar I and Isar II. They are 40 kilometers away from Landshut, between Essenbach and Niederaichbach.

Passive safety features

Consequentially shielding

The safety feature begins with the so-called “passive safety feature” which includes the radio-active materials in the reactor core (also by accidents) to protect them from the outside environment.

Safety in- and outward

Fuel pellets, Fuel-Rod casings, reactor pressure vessel, biological shield, steel containment structure and the outer ferro concrete mantle are six of the most important passive safety features.

Active safety features

The passive safety installations are supplemented by a lot of automatically working “active safety systems” whose reliableness is based on their plural existence and their autonomously working in separate rooms.

This is as necessary for the internal electric power supply as for the reactor cooling system, which guarantees the reliable thermal dissipation in every operating status, even when an implausible accident ingresses (for example a break of a primary coolant line).

It constantly controls and compares all the important key operating parameters of the plant and activates automatically the necessary protection measures (independent from the plant operating personnel) if a parameter reaches a limit value.

For example the protection system may initiate a rapid shutdown and aftercooling procedure.

On-site storage facilities

By law, all nuclear power plants are forced to store their atomic waste in on-site storage facilities near the power plant.

These temporary storage facilities have to be used until a final processing plant is built in a central location in Germany, to where all nuclear power plants would bring their atomic waste to. The usage of this storage is planned from 2030 onwards, so interim storage facilities are necessary.

The nuclear power plants Isar must also therefore have its own temporary storage facility, which has been under construction since 15 June 2004.

Work on the temporary storage facility at the Isar location was marked by protest actions from environmentalist and resident groups, which voiced concern about possible health effects.

The interim storage facility of Isar nuclear power plant is in use since 2007 and provides capacity for 152 fuel element containers.

Phasing-out of nuclear power

Concerns for the safety of nuclear power production were greatly increased after the Chernobyl accident in 1986, eventually leading to plans for its phase-out in certain countries. According to German Nuclear Phase-out regulations, Isar-I will be shut down in 2011, with operations in Isar-II continuing until 2021.

Isar Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Construction began	1971
Commission date	March 21, 1979
Owner(s)	E.ON
Operator(s)	Isar 1: E.ON Isar 2: 75% E.ON; 25% SWM
Reactor information
Reactors operational	2 reactors
Power generation information
Installed capacity	2387 MW
Annual generation	19051 GW·h
Net generation	406418 GW·h

The Biblis Nuclear Power Plant is in the South Hessian municipality of Biblis and consists of two units: unit A with a gross output of 1200 megawatts and unit B with a gross output of 1300 megawatts. Both units are pressurized water reactors. The operator of this nuclear power plant is the German RWE ("Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG"), an electrical utility based in Essen. unit A began operation on July 16, 1974 and entered commercial service on August 25, 1974. unit B reached criticality on March 25, 1976.

On December 17, 1987 an incident (INES 1) occurred: Coworkers overlooked a stop valve that had not been closed. In order to close the armature a valve was opened. Radioactive primary cooling agent discharged for a short time into the annular space. Because the discharge of the reactor cooling water took place outside of the reactor containment, there was no feedback from the sump over the safety feeding pumps and/or cooling pumps. The incident became public one year later, when an article in an American technical periodical (Nucleonic Weeks) was published. There have been other incidents afterwards, none of which has been rated over 1 on INES scale.

In the course of a routine swap of unit A's fuel assembly in September 2010 a malfunction of its emergency system was detected. The automated switchover of the power supply from unit B to A proved broken, which meant that the ability to perform countermeasures would have been severely impaired in case of an emergency. Previous demands by Germany's Green party and the IPPNW to construct an external control stand were refused by Hessen's environment minister Lucia Puttrich (CDU) on the ground that both units could provide each other with energy should an incident occur.

Biblis Nuclear Power Plant is the partner power station of the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant.

Biblis Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Locale	Biblis
Status	Operational
Construction began	1969
Commission date	August 25, 1974
Operator(s)	RWE
Constructor(s)	Siemens Hochtief
Turbine information
Manufacturer(s)	Siemens
Power generation information
Installed capacity	2,525 MW
Annual generation	15,306 GW·h
Net generation	439,973 GW·h

The Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant is the highest-output nuclear power station in Germany, producing 2 × 1344 megawatts. It is located in Gundremmingen, district of Günzburg, Bavaria and is operated by Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen GmbH, a joint operation of RWE Power AG, based in Essen (75%) and E.ON Kernkraft GmbH, based in Hannover (25%). Two units, B and C, are currently in operation. Unit A was the site of the first fatal accident in a nuclear power plant and subsequently of a major accident resulting in a total loss, the only such catastrophe to date in a nuclear power plant in Germany.

Reactor Units in Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant

Unit A

Unit A was a boiling water reactor with an output of 237 megawatts, the first large nuclear power plant in Germany. It was in operation from 1966 until 1977, and during its life generated a total of 138,000 kWh of energy.

Following objections by the city of Nuremberg to the original planned location on the Danube at Bertoldsheim (between Donauwörth und Neuburg an der Donau), because of protected areas for the city's drinking water supply in the Lech estuary, the plant was instead located approximately 50 km up-river in Gundremmingen, between Dillingen und Günzburg. The plant was proposed on July 13, 1962, quickly approved, on December 14, 1962, and placed in service in December 1966. A protest group, the Notgemeinschaft Atom-Kraftwerk Gundremmingen-Offingen (Gundremmingen-Offingen Atomic Power Plant Emergency Organization) was silenced using monies specifically set aside for the purpose.

In 1975 an incident occurred in which two workers were killed by escaping radioactive steam: the first fatal accident in a nuclear power plant.

On January 13, 1977 a serious accident occurred that resulted in the total loss of Unit A. In cold, damp weather, two high-tension lines carrying electricity from the plant short-circuited. The ensuing rapid shutdown of the reactor led to operational errors. Within approximately ten minutes, there was approximately 3 meters of standing water in the reactor building and the temperature had risen to approximately 80 degrees Celsius. Through error, too much water was introduced into the reactor for emergency cooling. Pressure relief valves released between 200 and 400 cubic meters (sources vary) of radioactive coolant water into the building. The water, and also the gases, were later released from the building into the environment.

This was Germany's first and up to the present only catastrophic loss of a nuclear power plant. Political and regulatory bodies required that in addition to repairs, the unit's control and safety systems be modernized. Because modernization would have required an investment of 180 million DM, and since Units B and C were already under construction, the operating authorities later decided not to return Unit A to service. The contaminated steel parts were contained in protective castings and removed to the interim radioactive storage location in Mitterteich.

In 1983 the decision was made to dismantle the unit. Dismantling was "far advanced" in 2005 and has led to valuable experience and the development of state of the art processes for the break-down, handling, and cleansing of radiation-contaminated materials. According to the operators, approximately 10,000 tonnes of scrap have been created in the process, of which 86% have been re-usable and 14% are to be disposed of in permanent storage as radioactive waste.

In January 2006 the Bayerische Staatsministerium für Umwelt, Gesundheit und Verbraucherschutz (Bavarian State Ministry for Environment, Health, and Consumer Safety) gave permission for the construction of a "technology center" within the confines of the former Unit A - with the exception of the reactor building. Following conversion and modernization, the following work will be possible there:

• Treatment of remaining radioactive material with the objective of re-use
• Mitigation of radioactive wastes
• Servicing of components
• Manufacture and storage until use of tools and equipment
• Storage and preparation for transportation of treated and untreated wastes pending their conversion or removal from the site.

The statement of permission also allows venting of radioactive materials via the exhaust stacks. Maximum permitted annual radioactive emissions are: 50 MBq for aerosol radionucleides with half-lives greater than 8 days (excluding iodine-131), 0.5 Mbq for Iodine 131, and 100,000 MBq for tritium.

Units B and C

Units B and C are neighboring units of identical construction. Each consists of a reactor building, a machine shed, and a 160 m tall cooling tower. The two units share a 170 m tall exhaust stack. Construction commenced on Units B and C on July 19, 1976. Unit B was completed on March 9, 1984, Unit C on October 26, 1984.

Each reactor is loaded with around 136 tonnes of fuel; the reaction elements last approximately five years. Annually, roughly a fifth of them are switched out. Water is drawn from the river via a canal 1.4 km in length and evaporates in the cooling towers at a rate of 0.7 cubic meters per second. It is returned to the river through an underground pipe.

Like Unit A, Units B and C are boiling water reactors. In this type of reactor, the water flows around the fuel elements, boils, and the steam directly drives the turbines. Thus, in boiling water reactors, in contrast to pressurized water reactors, there is only a single, primary coolant loop. Each unit is loaded with 784 fuel elements. One fuel element contains approximately 174 kg uranium and consists of 100 (10 x 10) fuel rods. Units B and C together generate a total of approximately 210,000 kWh of electricity annually. Hence they are calculated to supply approximately 30% of Bavaria's electricity usage. Both reactors are designated Series 72 (for 1972, the year in which they were initially conceived).

Net electrical output is 1,300 megawatts per reactor. An increase in the output of Units B and C, from a gross electrical output of 1,344 megawatts each to 1,450 megawatts, was requested in September 1999 but has been "on ice" for years. On December 19, 2007, the Bayerisches Umweltministerium (Bavarian Ministry of the Environment) mandated an increase in performance of 160 thermal megawatts and in electricity generation of 52 megawatts. In addition, in recent years there has been a plan to convert both units to load management operation, in which the electrical output ("load") is managed. On weekends, at least, these reactors are often throttled back.

In 1995, plutonium-containing mixed oxide fuel elements (MOX fuel) were for the first time used on a large scale in boiling water reactors. Their increased radiation has been repeatedly criticized by environmental protection groups, which have registered around 40,000 protests. However, utilization of these fuel elements enables appreciably more effective use of available uranium through reprocessing. The operators must guarantee that the reactor can be safely shut down under all operating conditions. And at least once every operating period and upon every alteration to the fuel load in the core, a report on the so-called shut-down reactivity must be submitted, as required by German safety rule KTA 3104.

Measured emitted radioactivity in 2004 was 3 TBq airborne and 5 TBq waterborne.

The planned shutdown of the Gundremmingen B reactor has previously been scheduled for 2016, and of Gundremmingen C for 2017. Already at the end of 1994, the operators had announced agreements with the nuclear reprocessing plants at La Hague, France and Sellafield, England, and with that opted for long-term interim storage.

Interim storage of spent nuclear fuel

Since August 2004, an interim storage facility has been established on the grounds of the nuclear power plant for spent fuel elements with a heavy metal weight of 2,250 tonnes. It contains 192 storage spaces and was placed in operation in 2006. € 30 million have been budgeted for this. Construction of the building (104 m long, 38 m wide, and 18 m tall) was completed at the end of 2005. After interior fitting with electrical, heating, and ventilation equipment, installation of heavyweight hoists, and remaining exterior work, on August 25, 2006 the interim storage facility was opened and the first containers from the power plant moved in.

To minimize risk of radiation, the facility has two doors each weighing 50 tonnes and thick concrete walls, although at 85 cm they are thinner than in comparable storage facilities in North Germany (e.g. at Brokdorf 120 cm). At 55 cm, the concrete roof is likewise considerably weaker than the roofs of the interim storage facilities built in North Germany (e.g. Brokdorf 130 cm).

The power station operators had submitted a request to store up to 192 containers of spent nuclear fuel. With the assistance of environmental groups, neighboring residents lodged a legal complaint against the project. In a judgment dated January 2, 2006, the Bavarian Administrative Court rejected these complaints. An appeal was not accepted. The plaintiffs protested this decision with a complaint of non-admission to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. On August 24, 2006, this motion was rejected. In addition to concern about catastrophic accidents in particular terrorist attacks, the opposition was motivated by fear that the interim storage facility might develop into an unplanned permanent storage facility, since even in 2005, despite many assurances, there still existed no permanent depository anywhere in the world for spent nuclear fuel, which requires safe containment for approximately a million years.

Weather Tower

Since 1978, approximately one kilometer east of the nuclear power station, at 48°30'47" N, 10°25'13" E, has been the location of a 174 m tall steel and concrete tower with instruments for monitoring climatic conditions, known as the Meteo-Turm or Weather Tower.

Incidents in Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant

In the early morning hours of Sunday January 6, 2008, Unit B of the Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Station was shut down as a precaution. The reason was an approximately 3% reduction in output by one of the low-pressure turbines; that corresponds to approximately 40 megawatts of output. The cause was a defective weld in a pipe, through which steam was reaching the condenser directly, without passing through the turbine rotors. To determine the cause of the drop in performance and repair the damage as well as to prevent any possible effects on the turbine, the unit was powered down. On January 8, the problem with the weld was corrected. The reduction in performance by the turbine had no safety implications for the assembly or the environment surrounding the plant. It was not subject to mandatory reporting. The reactor went back online on January 12.

During 2007, the oversight agency was informed of a total of nine incidents (5 in Unit B, 4 in Unit C). All were deemed "insignificant in terms of safety." Emissions of radioactive substances had in all cases remained under the permitted threshold, according to an annual statement to the press in 2008 by the technical supervisor, Dr. Helmut Bläsig.

Trivia

The previous abbreviated form of the nuclear power plant's name was KRB (for Kernkraftwerk RWE-Bayernwerk). Recently, however, the abbreviation KGG (for Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen GmbH) has been used. The abbreviation KGB (for Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen Betriebsgesellschaft mbH) was also used for a while, but did not come into common use because the former Soviet secret police is also abbreviated KGB.

Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant's partner power plant is the Russian Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant.

Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Locale	Gundremmingen, district of Günzburg, Bavaria
Coordinates	48°30′53″N 10°24′8″E / 48.51472°N 10.40222°E / 48.51472; 10.40222 / 48.51472; 10.40222
Construction began	1962
Commission date	April 12, 1967
Owner(s)	75% RWE 25% E.ON
Operator(s)	Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen GmbH
Power generation information
Annual generation	20,629 GW·h
Net generation	403,092 GW·h