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Out for three nuclear power plants: projection of the environmental protection organization Greenpeace on the cooling towers of the pile in Grohnde
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
On New Year's Eve, further nuclear power plants were shut down for good.
The power plants are shortly before midnight
Brokdorf
in Schleswig-Holstein
and
Grohnde
in Lower Saxony
The operator Preussen Elektra announced on Saturday that it had been taken offline as planned.
The RWE group also closed its power plant on Thursday
Gundremmingen
C
in Bavaria
announced for New Year's Eve.
This leaves three active nuclear power plants in Germany, which, according to the plans to phase out nuclear power, are also to be shut down in one year.
This was determined with the exit law of the black and yellow federal government after the reactor disaster in Fukushima, Japan in 2011. This essentially restored the exit decision of the former red and green government after the Union and FDP had sought to extend the term in the meantime.
Since the Brokdorf power plant went online in 1986, it has generated more than 380 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, according to the operator.
Akw Grohnde has produced almost 410 billion kilowatt hours of electricity since 1984.
According to RWE, the four Gundremmingen C power plant blocks have generated over 400 billion kilowatt hours of electricity since they began operating.
Off with a symbolic effect
In particular, the end for Brokdorf has a symbolic effect: since its construction there has been massive resistance from opponents of nuclear power.
As announced by the Ministry of the Environment in Schleswig-Holstein, the nuclear power plant is in so-called post-operation until the decommissioning permit is issued.
The residual heat from the shutdown reactor is transferred to the Elbe via cooling systems.
Accordingly, tests are currently being carried out and the unloading of the reactor core into the fuel element storage pool is being prepared.
In the coming weeks and months, extensive preparations are to be made in the nuclear power plant for final decommissioning.
In addition to the nuclear power plants, three smaller lignite power plants in North Rhine-Westphalia should also go offline on Friday as part of the coal phase-out.
oka / AFP
