German Grohnde nuclear power plant receives dismantling permit

Nothing now stands in the way of dismantling Germany’s Grohnde nuclear power plant. Its operator has obtained a permit from the authorities for its permanent decommissioning, less than two years after it was shut down. The unit’s 1430 MW pressurized water reactor generated electricity from 1984 to 2021. Germany shut down its last nuclear power plant this April and is relying on other sources to generate electricity. The operator expects the work to be completed in 2037.

The operator of the German Grohnde nuclear power plant (KWG), PreussenElektra (a subsidiary of Germany’s E.ON), announced that it had received the necessary approval from the Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection for the permanent decommissioning and dismantling of the facility.

The plant’s single 1430 MW unit, equipped with a pressurized water reactor, generated electricity for nearly 36 years, starting in 1984. The plant supplied around 11 TWh of electricity to the German grid annually and, before shutting down, reached the milestone of delivering 400 TWh of electricity to the grid.

“Nuclear energy is history in Germany. The start of decommissioning and dismantling at the Grohnde nuclear power plant, which was shut down on 31 December 2021, is an important milestone for Lower Saxony. We are consistently decommissioning nuclear facilities and ensuring the highest level of safety during dismantling,” said Environment Minister Christian Meyer.

The operator applied for the permit six years ago, but the authorities issued it only now, after reviewing the individual procedural steps for decommissioning and dismantling the plant. Since the plant was shut down at the end of 2021, technicians have been preparing the site for dismantling.

In addition to decontaminating the primary cooling circuit and decommissioning systems and components, this includes building logistics routes. During dismantling, technicians will remove around 15 thousand tonnes of material from the controlled area. The radioactive waste is then to be stored at the Konrad permanent repository.

The entire dismantling process will take almost 15 years

PreussenElektra is responsible for the decommissioning of eight nuclear power plants in Germany. Its last nuclear unit to generate electricity in Germany, until 15 April 2023, was Isar 2. PreussenElektra aims to complete the dismantling of the Grohnde unit by the beginning of 2037, and of its entire nuclear fleet by 2040.

“With KWG, all three of PreussenElektra’s power plants in Lower Saxony are now undergoing dismantling. Demolition of the power plant buildings recently began at the Stade nuclear power plant, and dismantling is in full swing at our Unterweser nuclear power plant. Drawing on the experience gained from these dismantling projects, we are well prepared and confident that we will be able to complete the dismantling of KWG on schedule, by the beginning of 2037,” said Guido Knott, CEO of PreussenElektra.