Biblis Nuclear Power Plant

F1

Decommissioned Reactors ( gross ):

Set planning ( gross ):

The decommissioned nuclear power plant Biblis ( KWB ) is located in the South Hessian municipality of Biblis near the mouth of the Weschnitz into the Rhine. The power plant is located 91 m above sea level. NN and operated by RWE Power AG.

The Biblis nuclear power plant consists of two almost identical pressurized water reactors: Block A with a gross electrical output of 1225 megawatts and block B with a gross electrical output of 1300 megawatts. With a potential total capacity of about 2525 MW Biblis was after Grundremmingen / Bayern 's second most profitable nuclear power plant in Germany. Two more initially planned blocks, Biblis C and D Biblis were not built.

After the start of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, RWE AG Block A had to take ( the older of the two blocks ) on the evening of March 18, 2011 from the mains. Block B was at that time already in a scheduled inspection, so that he did not have to be removed from the network. RWE was following the arrangement of the Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Energy, Agriculture and Consumer Protection for the three-month shutdown of the system (so-called nuclear moratorium ).

On 1 April 2011 RWE announced that it has filed against this arrangement an action before the Hessian Administrative Court. To safeguard the interests of the shareholders is to start from a profit loss of about 1 million euros per day standstill.

The Federal Network Agency issued on 31 August 2011 announced that the power plant will no longer be approached and also can not be left as a " cold reserve " is available.

The operator RWE announced on May 11, 2012 that he preferred a safe enclosure for direct demolition and preparation meet for it. An application is filed to " in the second half ."

End of February 2013, the Court of Hessian VGH that are arranged according to the catastrophe of Fukushima three-month closure was unlawful. The country is now facing an action for damages by the operator RWE.

• 2.1 Building and Planning
• 2.2 Commissioning
• 2.3 times the power plant units 2.3.1 Biblis A
• 2.3.2 Biblis B

• 3.1 Radioactivity
• 3.2 Reportable incidents
• 3.3 Other events

Data

Basic data

Block A

The wall thickness of the reactor building Biblis A is 60 centimeters, the vent stack has a height of 101 meters. The reactor pressure vessel weighs 425 tons. Biblis A has two 80 -meter-high forced ventilation fan cooling towers. The base diameter of a cooling tower is 68 m. Block A is the world's first commercial pressurized water reactor of 1300 MW class. He served as a role model for subsequent generations of nuclear power plants, the pre-Convoy and Convoy generation. The reactor core of Biblis A consists of 193 fuel assemblies with a total of 45,000 fuel rods and about 100 tons of uranium dioxide.

As a father of block A is Heinrich Mandel.

Block B

The wall thickness of the reactor building Biblis B is 80 centimeters, the vent stack has a height of 100 meters. Biblis B has two 80 -meter-high forced ventilation fan cooling towers. The base diameter of a cooling tower is 69 m. In general, block B, however, was operated without cooling towers. Only at high Rhine water temperatures or low water cooling tower operation was necessary to avoid exceeding specified temperature limits.

Blocks C and D

A natural draft wet cooling tower were each provided with a height of 160 meters for the once planned for Block C and Block D. A cut - and functional model of block C is the information center. Biblis C was planned as a convoy system. We have already made ​​the first large-scale components such as reactor pressure vessels and steam generators. The reactor pressure vessel was later used for material testing. The reactor lid is still Audit teams as a core element.

Data of the reactor units

The nuclear power plant has two disconnected and discarded two blocks:

History

Building and planning

The construction costs for Biblis A amounted to about 800 million DM for Biblis B is about a billion DM in the seventies were two other blocks, Block C and D, planned. While Biblis D was quickly rejected (planning beginning in 1975, planning the end of 1979 ), ended the plans for Biblis C until 1995.

In the planning phase of the power plant different sites were considered, including the from the present site about 35 kilometers away Trebur, however, it was decided due to the very good network connectivity for Biblis. Both a 220 kV and a 400 kV line are available here. The blocks are connected to both the substation in Pfungstadt as well as to the large substation in Buerstadt.

Commissioning

On 16 July 1974 the first chain reaction was initiated in block A. Block A delivered on August 25, 1974 for the first time electricity into the public grid. Nuclear commissioning ( criticality) was in block B on 25 March 1976.

2006 on-site interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel was taken with a heavy metal weight of 1400 tons in operation. It offers 135 Castor containers with spent fuel space. It is 92 m long 38 m wide and 18 m high. From the outside the building resembles an ordinary industrial building. The 85 cm thick external walls and the 55 -inch-thick concrete roof reduce the radiation to the extent that the approved at the power plant fence values ​​are respected. Currently about 80 seats are filled.

Terms of the power plant units

In the so-called nuclear consensus government and power companies have established inter alia that all German nuclear power plants may produce a limited amount still remaining current that corresponds to a rule average term of 32 years. For Biblis A, therefore, was the final trip for the end of 2009, the shutdown of Biblis B was scheduled for 2010. Due to the flexible control over residual electricity volumes, the Abschalttermin did not accurately predict because each stop ( see also incidents of 16 Okt. 2006) postponed the date. After the federal government had withdrawn the shortening of the reactor maturities in 2010 and had the blocks Biblis A and Biblis B granted additional quantities of electricity in the amount of approximately eight years, the decommissioning of units was not expected before 2020.

By decision of the Federal Government March 14, 2011, however, a three-month moratorium on nuclear - term extension was announced, so that the power plant was shut down on March 18, 2011.

On 29 May 2011, the Federal Government decided that both blocks of the nuclear power plant Biblis not go back to the grid. There were considerations, namely to let block B as a "reserve power plant " down to but again can drive up briefly during power shortages. RWE did not agree with this decision. On June 16, 2011 RWE announced that Biblis B is no longer connected to the grid.

Biblis A

Due to established technical safety problems, a method for closure of Biblis A led the Hessian Nuclear 1997. However, the Head of Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection, the Federal Environment Ministry Gerald Hennenhöfer prevented the already resolved by the Hessian state government decommissioning of the nuclear power plant Biblis by bundesaufsichtlicher transfer.

The nuclear consensus allowed a consent -free transmission of electricity volumes older plants on younger plants; a transfer from younger to older systems required a consent of the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Environment and the Chancellor's Office. The RWE was awarded a transferable residual electricity volume of 107 TWh in the negotiations on the nuclear phase-out for the abandoned nuclear power plant in Mülheim -Kärlich. From this amount of power 30 TWh could be transferred without consent on block B. RWE AG presented in September 2006 an application for electricity transmission by 30 TWh from ( younger ) power plant in Mülheim -Kärlich on the (older) power plant Biblis A. In the case of approval of this application RWE would operate the power plant Biblis A until the second half of 2011 and then - so the further consideration of RWE - can turn off together with Biblis B. In consideration of deadlock due to the exchange of undercut anchors the called Abschalttermin had moved in 2013.

This brought in by RWE main request for block A was preliminary and final in May 2007 refused by the Federal Ministry of Environment in March 2007. The Ministry of Environment represented here, the law considers that a quantity of electricity transmission from the power plant Mülheim- Kärlich on Biblis A to the Atomic Energy Act was not possible. The also provided alternative request to transfer the amount of power from the Emsland nuclear power plant in Biblis A rejected from the Ministry of Environment on April 7, 2008. The main reason was mentioned that Biblis A was in possession of less safety margin than the more modern nuclear power plant Emsland.

Against the rejection of the main request and also the sub- application filed RWE Power in April 2007 complaint to the Administrative Court Kassel, which was dismissed. The revision brought by RWE to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig was rejected by decision of 26 March 2009; the rejection of longer maturities is also true for the nuclear power plant Brunsbuttel. In its judgment, the Court upheld the decision of the lower courts and thus dismissed the applications of the nuclear power plant operators RWE and Vattenfall.

On January 21, 2010 2009 talks between the Federal Government and the utilities were first held after the change of government. To make a provisional continued operation until the decision of the Federal Government, RWE bought in May 2010, a current quota of 4.8 TWh from the closed nuclear power plant Stade of the operator E.ON Depending on the mode of operation so that could reach up to the year 2012, the current quota for Biblis A.

A final decision on the continued operation of nuclear power plants has been taken in the fall of 2010. Both blocks received in addition to the arrangements in the nuclear consensus of 2002 production volume, an additional current quota, which corresponded to a ( notional ) additional period of about 8 years. The amount of additional electricity for Biblis A was 68.617 TWh (net ), which was higher than that in the nuclear consensus of 2002 fixed residual electricity volume of 62,000 TWh ( net).

In November 2011, two unsuitable fuses were discovered and replaced in the Biblis A. Neither the functionality nor the staff thereof were affected. The operating company RWE conducted an inspection at all, so several thousand fuses. There was not figure out why these fuses were used, also investigations of the components in other nuclear power plants have been initiated.

Biblis B

On 9 September 2005, the IPPNW handed ( Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Physicians for Social Responsibility ) in the Hesse Nuclear an application for decommissioning the nuclear power plant Biblis B a. Since this request was not granted, the IPPNW lawsuit filed on December 12, 2008 at Hessian Administrative Court. Accordingly, the power plant Biblis B have exhibited at least 210 basic and serious safety deficiencies. The IPPNW took rejects the application for revocation or cancellation of the operating permit by letter dated 17 March 2008.

In Biblis B RWE could transmit up to 21.45 TWh of Mülheim- Kärlich loud nuclear consensus without permission, a residual amount of electricity, which is a term extension for Biblis B meant to 2013 of June 2007, according to an estimate. In August 2010, RWE made ​​use of this possibility, leaving 8.1 TWh to Biblis B transmitted.

Post-operational phase and decommissioning

The reactors located in the post. According to a forecast by the Hessian Ministry of the Environment is expected to dismantle the plant from 2016. RWE reviewed in which the option of sealing ( Safe enclosure ), which would have a much later dismantling result.

As it comes to increased problems with the voltage stability due to the shutdown of the nuclear power plant Biblis, it was decided by the transmission system operator Amprion and the power plant operator RWE Power to convert the synchronous generator of block A for Phase-shift operation to produce the required reactive current. The conversion is carried out by Siemens from October 2011 to February 2012.

Security

The safety features of the more than 30 years ago built power plants according to the operator constantly monitored and improved. Providing any, as required by the Atomic Energy Act, the current state of science and technology appropriate protection against damage is achieved, regulators and their expert checked regularly. As for the fatigue, you 've found through regular checks to ensure that both units could be operated for 60 years without any problems. The IAEA carries out the plants Biblis A and B as a reference for successful safety retrofits of older nuclear power plants.

This representation contradicts a study by Greenpeace clearly. Block A of the power plant was designed and built to the were no safeguards against the crash of a military aircraft at a time.

Criticism is also that a separate emergency waiting outside the reactor building, can be controlled from a reactor in the event of a serious disturbance in the reactor building of the does not exist. Since the blocks are almost identical and are also connected to each other underground, it is in time of emergency possible to run through the other a branch in the neighboring block emergency waiting neighboring block and abzufahren regulated in time of emergency and to ensure the removal of residual heat. On the part of the critics, however, doubts that this is still possible with a fault.

In an " emergency" but it is not a fault in the sense of primary leaks, but the entire primary circuit ( and associated safety valves ) is fully operational, including the steam generator to the Abblaseregelventilen. The area of ​​the so-called auxiliary building ( here, for example, waste water treated, ventilation systems are located in areas, etc.), the nacelle, switchgear building, waiting and supply rooms are no longer available, however. It is therefore necessary in such a case to control the feeding of the steam generator with water and thus the cooling of the primary circuit and Aufborieren from an alternative vantage point. Can here - and this is unique in Biblis - fall back on the big consanguinity of the blocks. For all other locations in Germany, there are no two identical blocks ( with the exception of Grundremmingen where it however is Siedewasseranlagen ), so you had to rely on its own emergency waiting in the construction of the facilities there.

On 15 July 2009 it was announced that the Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel after the announcement of the annual report of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection ( BfS) and the incident at the nuclear power plant crumbs from the operator RWE prior to restart after the January 2009 held revision retrofitting of closely meshed sump strainers, and a Sumpfsiebrückspülung demanded. In the LOCA is assumed that insulating materials accumulate in the building sump and these could then the sump strainers through which the post-cooling ensures clog. Thanks to the Sumpfsiebrückspülung this can be avoided and a safe residual heat removal is guaranteed.

It is repeatedly criticized by various nuclear- critical organizations that at least 200 safety-related piping so-called stamp fields were not present. The operator, as well as TÜV, however, have refuted and in various reports it has been confirmed that there are to all safety- significant piping the complete documentation in accordance with the requirements of the Atomic Energy Act.

Radioactivity

Operationally manage nuclear power plants on air and water, small amounts of radioactive substances from ( emission). The Atomic Energy Act requires supervisors among other things, to monitor the operation as regards the approved limits. A corresponding overview for the KWB can be found on the sides of the Hessian Ministry of Environment, Energy, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.

Reportable incidents

Overall, there were 437 since commissioning ( Biblis A) plus 440 ( Biblis B) reportable events ( as of December 31, 2013).

Most of these reportable occurrences, however, the reporting category assigned to N, according to the INES scale 0, that is, it was, these events with little or no safety significance.

Other incidents

As the following events all from one source and this has not been thoroughly reported the following incidents can not be clearly assigned to a block.

• March 1994: burned in Biblis A within the containment of the engine of a main coolant pump because it had come to a short circuit due to a forgotten during maintenance in the pump chisel. As a result, there was a dispute between the Hessian Minister for the Environment and the Federal Environment Minister on the decommissioning of the reactor.
• 3 July 1998: On an empty transport containers for spent fuel glowing spots ("hot spots" ) are discovered. The radiation is the 7500 times the permissible value.
• July 11, 1998: Two leaks were discovered in block B on the secondary circuit.
• January 6, 1999: A secondary cooling system in the off- block B is radioactively contaminated by a defective heater tube. The Nuclear Regulatory insists that the Biblis operators must first clarify the "damage mechanism " before block B can be approached again.
• August 28, 2002: Error in the power supply of the emergency system. There was a " false suggestion " of a relay and then to a power failure in one of four power supply lines of the emergency system. The Hessian Minister of the Environment ordered a the board of the operating company.
• 28 April 2003: The Hessian Minister of the Environment announced that since commissioning of Biblis A, the emergency cooling system is inadequate and does not meet the operating license. There was a risk of overheating of the latent reactor during an accident. The reactor was therefore temporarily shut down.
• 12 July 2004: Over two hours only worked half the emergency cooling system.
• October 16, 2006: unscheduled shutdown of the blocks A and B on the basis of non -spec set dowel connections at pipe supports. The special dowels were retrofitted under the supervision of an expert, to make the plant earthquake-resistant. Samples showed that about 70 % of the 20 cm long anchors a red mark not plan completed with the concrete wall. In January 2007 it was reported that the fail -mounted special plugs should be replaced by a longer dowel; in June it was announced that all 15,000 special dowels were replaced. After the competent authorities had confirmed the completion of all remediation work dowels and carried out in parallel revision measures, the B block of the power plant Biblis has taken power operation again on 1 December 2007. According to a press release from RWE Power of 9 February 2008, the Hessian Ministry for Environment, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection has granted its approval for restarting the block A. Prerequisite for this step was the successful conclusion of the dowel remediation and revision of all measures. In block A, then the multi-day test and commissioning program was recorded.

Others

The Biblis nuclear power plant operates with the nuclear power plants Balakowo (Russia), Zaporizhia and Rivne (both Ukraine) partnerships to exchange experiences.

Until the mid- 1990s, no official abbreviation was used, as is common with most other nuclear power plants for the nuclear power plant Biblis. The abbreviation KKB was already taken for the nuclear power plant Brunsbuttel and KWB reserved for the planned nuclear power plant in the Hessian town of Borken. Only after the final task of the project in Borken in 1995, the abbreviation for the nuclear power plant Biblis was used.

Film productions

• Joachim Faulstich and George M. Hafner: Death Zone - After the Super - GAU in Biblis, D, 1991, 45 min, docu-fiction