Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Plant

Active reactors ( gross ):

The nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld ( Abbreviation: CSC ) is located south of Schweinfurt, Lower Franconia, the Grafenrheinfeld on the left bank of the Main. Construction began in 1974 by the Bavarian Werk AG, commissioning took place on 9 December 1981. It is a pressurized water reactor of the third generation ( "pre- convoy " system) with a gross electrical output of 1345 megawatts. The annual electricity production amounts to an average of over ten billion kilowatt hours. Operator is the E.ON Kernkraft GmbH, headquartered in Hanover. The nuclear power plant has two highly visible cooling towers with a height of 143 meters each. A newly built at the site interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel was on 1 March 2006. The nuclear power plant is scheduled to shut down in late May 2015.

The EU introduced in 2011/12 a ' stress test for nuclear power plants ' by; in this study ( in the EU are 134 nuclear power plants 68 locations, of which 24 sites were inspected ) was also the NPP Grafenrheinfeld of foreign nuclear experts inspected ( "peer review" ). EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger will present the results on 10 October 2012 [ deprecated] post.

3.1 Planning
3.2 construction
3.3 Operation
3.4 Planned decommissioning

7.1 passive safety system
7.2 Active Safety System

8.1 June 26 and July 5, 2000
8.2 2 / 3 April 2002
8.3 November 12, 2012
8.4 November 16, 2012

9.1 radiation dose
9.2 GHG
9.3 heat emission

Location

The nuclear power plant is located about 7.5 kilometers south of Schweinfurt and 25 km northeast of Würzburg at about 210 m above sea level. NHN. It is located south of Schweinfurt basin, which is characterized by a relative low topographic position relative to the surrounding natural landscape units. The Main runs west about 500 meters in a north-south direction. Within a radius of ten kilometers and approximately 126,000 people, of whom about 55,000 in Schweinfurt. The area of the nuclear power plant is surrounded by predominantly agricultural and forestry areas used for agriculture as well as several smaller landscape and nature conservation areas. Within a radius of up to ten kilometers there are four plants in the city of Schweinfurt for drinking water supply, the three systems in remote water supply and three single -supply systems.

The location of the nuclear power plant at Grafenrheinfeld provides topographical and meteorological conditions favorable. The region around the nuclear power plant is considered to be earthquake-proof and is protected by flood protection dams against flooding. The availability of large amounts of water for cooling towers is ensured by the location on Main. A well-developed transport network of the environment is needed for transporting the goods from the nuclear power plant beneficial. The electricity generated from the power plant is fed via the derailleur in the Bavarian high-voltage grid or in the European interconnected network, the network operation is centrally controlled by a load balancer in Karl field near Munich.

Plant

Nuclear reactor

When the nuclear reactor is a pressurized water reactor of the third generation, a so-called pre-Convoy system. The basic design of this type of reactor is from the 1970s. The reactor has a gross electrical power (rated power ) of the generator of 1345 megawatts ( MW). The net capacity is 1275 megawatts. This value specifies the maximum power that can stand for the production of electrical energy. It corresponds to the gross value minus the power plant own consumption of auxiliary and ancillary systems. The reactor thermal power is 3765 MW.

To the reactor area of the reactor pressure vessel is one with an inner diameter of five meters, with a total height including control rod drive nozzle of 12.8 meters. The total weight of the pressure vessel is about 530 tons, the wall thickness of 25 centimeters. The reactor core holds 193 fuel with a fuel rod length of 3.9 meters and a fuel weight of 103 tons. The four steam generators have a total weight of 335 tons, with a maximum diameter of 4.9 meters and an overall height of 21.3 meters.

Power generation

For power generation, serve the machine technical equipment such as the turbine, which is driven by steam, and the generator. The turbine consists of a high-pressure and two low-pressure parts, called directly with the three-phase synchronous generator, also turbo-generator, are coupled. Generator and turbine together a turbo kit. The steam flows at 65 bar in the high pressure turbine and performed in twelve steps work. In the nine levels of the two subsequent low-pressure parts he relaxes to a pressure of 0.088 bar, where it partially condenses back into liquid water. The outer diameter of the last blade wheel of 5.60 meters, the nominal speed is 1500 revolutions per minute. The generator with a total weight of 675 tons is driven by the turbine and converts the absorbed kinetic energy into electrical energy. The capacity is 1345 megawatts. With three-phase transformers, the voltage is transformed and fed into the 380 -kilovolt extra-high voltage power transmission system operator TenneT TSO.

It is striking that the outgoing lines are partially laid on very low power poles. The use of the path outside the power plant site along the switchgear is therefore prohibited for vehicles with more than four meters in height. This will be indicated with appropriate signs.

In the nuclear power plant a permanent electricity is guaranteed. Own consumption is related to power out of it, the power plant needs to maintain its operating capability. The generator is disconnected in case of failure of electricity generation by a power switch of the machine transformer. The captive is taken in such a case, the power of the generator transformers. If the power supply can be ensured by either the nuclear power plant itself ( for example, if trip) nor by the high-voltage grid, the current four redundant emergency diesel generators is based. In an emergency, to ensure the power supply battery systems and other emergency diesel generators.

Cooling Towers

For complete condensation of the low-pressure steam are two natural draft cooling towers, each with a height of 143 meters, are used. They are connected by a further cooling circuit with the condenser. The diameter of the cooling tower at the base is 104 m, the exit diameter above 64 meters. 160,000 cubic meters will be circulated to the Main Water taken in the circuit operation per hour. The water passes through the turbine condenser and is then pumped to the cooling tower height of ten meters. There it is evenly distributed and trickles into the cooling tower pond, the collection area of the trickling water, which occupies the entire base of the cooling tower. At the bottom flowing into the cooling tower air to evaporate about 1.5 to 2 percent of the water, causing the water cools to about 13 Kelvin. According to another source, there are 0.035 percent, compared to the circulated amount due to evaporation. From the cooling tower pond, the cooling water is returned to the turbine condenser.

97 percent of the waste heat of the nuclear power plant to be discharged through the cooling tower in the form of water vapor in the air; about 3 percent are derived directly from the Main. Due to the cooling circuit is recirculated into the main water has heated, depending on the drainage of Maine by about 0.5 to 1 Kelvin. When removing the Main water for cooling of this contamination ( branches, leaves and mud, but also trash and other flotsam ) is cleaned. After the cooling process, the water is fed back to the main, about 5 cubic meters per second. Fall to about 4000 cubic meters and 300 cubic meters of filter cake of pressed screenings from the flotsam per year.

Meteo- mast Grafenrheinfeld

The meteorological mast ( Meteo mast) Grafenrheinfeld is a highly visible guyed steel lattice mast for measuring meteorological parameters. It is located off-site about 750 meters south of the nuclear power plant. The mast is 164 meters high and was built in 1977/78. It provides meteorological data for the monitoring network for monitoring nuclear installations in Bavaria (nuclear reactor remote monitoring system ), which is operated by the Bavarian State Office for the Environment ( LfU ). The gamma dose rate is measured on the premises and in the surrounding area. All measured data are transmitted to the monitoring network center in Augsburg without the participation of the operator of the system via remote data transmission.

Information Centre

Although the information center is inside the nuclear power plant area, but 300 meters outside the central core power range and has already opened six years before the commissioning of the power plant. Until the start of operations in December 1981 already visited more than 100,000 enthusiasts the information center. This device consists of a low-rise building in which modern audio-visual information systems, exhibits and showrooms are located. The information center was established in 1983 for the first time transformed, 1996, another major conversion. Since opening in June 1975 until the end of May 2007, the Information Center counted 434,000 visitors. The staff lead in the year about 8000 people through the power plant. Of these, however, only a few are allowed to enter the field of radiation protection. A total of over 12,000 visitors groups have already been held. As a result of the nuclear phase-out in 2011, E.ON completed the information center in Grafenrheinfeld how. Against all other nuclear power plants of the Group, the end of 2012

Interim storage

The federal legislature ordered in 2000 with the amended Atomic Energy Act, that on the site of a nuclear power plant, intermediate storage are to be installed to reduce the number of transports of radioactive material. This eliminates the transport of nuclear waste in the reprocessing plants at La Hague in France and Sellafield in the UK as well as in the northern German Gorleben and Ahaus. Since the nuclear power plant does not have a private siding, the Castor containers have been transported by low loader after Gochscheim, there to be loaded at the station in the town center from the low loader on the train. During the Verladezeitraums the area was cordoned off by police. These shipments were also regularly held demonstrations that took place always peaceful. With the intermediate bearing accounts until an opportunity for disposal has been found, Castor transports of nuclear waste.

The Bavaria Factory AG filed on February 23, 2000, the application for an interim storage facility on the site of the nuclear power plant. In building regulations approval process by the District Office Schweinfurt a formal cross-border environmental impact assessment was carried out. The Austrian Government, the governments of the provinces of Vorarlberg, Salzburg and Upper Austria and private persons received from the neighboring country opportunity to be heard. After announcing the project on 7 April 2001, while the public interpretation of the documents from April 24 to June 25, 2001 and at the oral discussion from 20 to 22 September 2001 in Gerolzhofen about 44,500 people had raised objections. The objections which have been raised in the form of petitions and individual objections, questioned the safety of the intermediate bearing and were directed against the concept of container. The objections were tested with the application documents and treated in the permit decision. This was issued on 3 August 2002.

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection ( BfS) approved on 12 March 2003, the operator of the nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld, E.ON Kernkraft GmbH to ensure the operation of the interim storage facility on the condition that the safe enclosure of the radioactive material in that each container with a double cover - system is equipped. The Bavarian Administrative Court dismissed the actions brought by the city of Schweinfurt and some private citizens against the nuclear license by the BFS from a charge.

The interim storage, a fuel element storage ( BELLA ), was built from 2003 and stocked on 26 February 2006 with the first Castor containers with spent fuel assemblies 19. These were taken a week earlier from the wet camp, where they were stored for decay after removal from the reactor five years. The interim storage facility is used exclusively for storage of irradiated fuel from the nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld. Even empty, but already used containers that are contaminated with radioactive substances, can be stored there. In the nuclear power plant about 522 tons of radioactive and contaminated materials have been incurred since the commissioning that were previously transported mainly with Castor transports to reprocessing plants abroad.

The interim storage facility located on the grounds of the nuclear power plant, about 70 meters east of the reactor building, and is bound by the outer enclosure in the power plant site. This is secured by a fence. Because of its location within the power plant site transport routes are very short, with no public transport routes are affected. It is run independently from the nuclear power plant. Infrastructural facilities of the nuclear power plant, as the entrance area and the roads and trails are, however, shared. The storage building is built particularly resistant and is used for shielding and heat dissipation. Because of this security measures required by law damage prevention is guaranteed by the combination of warehouse and fuel tank. The storage building has 85 -inch-thick reinforced concrete exterior walls and includes two storage areas with 62 meters long, 38 meters wide and 18 meters high. The roof is 55 centimeters thick. The loading area on the south side is separated by thick, up to 8.8 meters high and 80 centimeters thick shielding walls of the two storage areas. There are various function rooms and the container service station. The two storage areas are completely separated by a 50 cm thick concrete wall. The floor panels are made of a 40 cm thick reinforced concrete layer on a solid base. In the storage compartments in each case is a bridge crane, with which the containers are transported.

The interim storage facility has a maximum capacity of 88 Castor containers with a total of 800 tonnes of heavy metal mass. The storage area 1 has an area of 670 square meters, 40 pitches, which are arranged in five double rows of eight squares. The storage area is 2 760 square meters and includes 48 Castor containers on eight pitches in six double rows. Regulatory approval for the interim storage is limited to 40 years up to that point will be taken to a still -to-find repository all fuel, expected in the Gorleben salt dome.

In the nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld Castor containers of the type V/19 be used exclusively, with the Roman V stands for the five years of the decay of the fuel assemblies in wet storage and 19 for the maximum number of fuel assemblies that can accommodate the Castor. A container of this type weighs unloaded about 126 tons and consists of about 40 centimeters thick cast iron. The tightness of each container in the interim storage is continuously monitored and logged. The amount of each annual audit fee due irradiated fuel assemblies are loaded after the five-year decay time in Castor containers and transported from the reactor building to the interim storage.

History

Planning

The plans for nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld date back to the year 1969. In August 1969, the municipal council of Grafenrheinfeld approved the construction of a nuclear power plant by Bayern AG plant in the hallway departments Scholl and Wehr Dörnig with Mayor people. To this end, the municipality sold 9.7 acres of private grounds. An additional 35 acres were added from a private collection. From the beginning, there were opponents of the planned nuclear power plant. A civil action founded in 1972, that fought against the system during and after the construction period. As part of the regional planning process, the City of Schweinfurt and some neighboring communities of Grafenrheinfeld opposed the construction of the nuclear power plant. The City argued, among other things, that the nuclear power plant would hinder the coalescence of the expanding city with communities Bergrheinfeld and Grafenrheinfeld. In addition, it was feared that two neighboring natural areas could be devalued.

The then Federal Minister for Education and Science, Klaus von Dohnanyi, presented at a panel discussion in Schweinfurt unequivocally that "there is in the face of ever-increasing energy needs no alternative to nuclear energy." The site Grafenrheinfeld was also defended by his contemporaneous Bavarian Environment Minister Max Streibl. In December 1972 the council agreed to build the nuclear power plant.

The Bavaria Factory AG presented in November 1973 the official application for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Grafenrheinfeld. The regional planning process saw two reactor blocks in front with four cooling towers. First, however, should only one reactor and two cooling towers are built. The government of Lower Franconia was shortly after their approval, but with 21 safety and environmental regulations. After two years, the project had passed the regional planning process. The nuclear license was granted on 21 June 1974. Was brought by the city of Schweinfurt against the decision and the work on the site had to be temporarily suspended.

Construction

With the second part of planning permission by County Commissioner Georg Burghardt the construction of cooling towers could begin. The Bavarian government reaffirmed in the spring of 1975, the legality of the approval after it had come to the fence to the first demonstrations, which, however, as well as later, were peaceful. The number of employees on the construction site increased in June 1975 to about 340 people from more than 50 companies from the Lower Franconia region. At this time, the sealing wall was completed, which should prevent the ingress of groundwater. The nacelle was already fundamentalised, eleven high cranes were in use. Even with the cooling towers the foundation heels were concreted and the reactor building, the outer annular wall grew.

The interest of the population was large even at this early stage of construction. Therefore, the Bavaria factory AG established up to four bus trips daily to the site. In the fall of 1975 registered the information center at the construction site already 10,000 visitors. The end of 1975 were the 36 V- shaped supports for cooling towers as well as the lower part of the steel ball in which the reactor pressure vessel was installed later. One of the two cooling towers had been pulled up in October 1976 in Climbing design to its final height of 143 meters. With the completion of the first cooling tower Oberbauleiter Eberhard Wild spoke of the half- time of construction. Meanwhile, 850 people were employed on the site already.

As many buildings have been winterized, so that the interior could be made quickly in the cold season. In January 1977, the engine house was pulled up and got a roof. In the reactor building was working at this time in two twelve-hour shifts around the clock. This was necessary because of the additional safety requirements would otherwise have messed up the schedule. The plan was to connect the nuclear power plant in the winter 1979/80 to the grid.

With ships in the spring of 1977 the first heavy machinery, such as the turbine condenser delivered and unloaded at the power plant 's own port. Before the Administrative Court Würzburg a process for the nuclear power plant took place, as already about 500 million German marks were installed. The actions of three individuals, the city of Schweinfurt and the community Bergrheinfeld against the construction of nuclear power plant, however, were rejected.

In the following months, we continued to work under time pressure. In August 1977, the structural work was largely completed on the buildings. The containment vessel of 30 mm thick steel plate was welded together and lifted the upper polar cap of the container with a crane into position. The steel ball has a diameter of 56 meters to, has a weight of 2,000 tonnes and surrounds the reactor airtight. At this time, the second cooling tower was almost finished and the foundation for the narrow, 160 -meter high vent stack was born.

At the construction site about 1200 people were employed. Thus, it was the largest building site in southern Germany. The construction workers were gradually replaced by technicians. Externally, the nuclear power plant was completed by the end of the year. For the pure concreting 180,000 cubic meters of concrete and 19,000 tons of reinforcing steel were processed, for which two concrete batching plants were inside the plant. Then there were the two cooling towers with 22,000 cubic meters of concrete and 4,000 tons of reinforcing steel. The date for the first electricity production was moved from Site Manager game because of subsequent design and manufacturing modifications and necessary tests to mid 1980.

In October 1978, the 520 -ton, 12.8 -meter-long reactor vessel arrived. The seamless forged rings to had been made in Japan and transported by sea to Sweden. There they were welded together over several years. The safety testing alone claimed 40 percent of the working hours. Throughout the production of the TÜV Bayern was integrated. Only the cover of the reactor container has a weight of 120 tons. The reactor vessel is the central component in the primary circuit of the nuclear power plant. Nuclear fission takes place in the fuel elements. This container is connected to bar 158 under high pressure, so that the water - 68,000 tonnes per hour - which flows through it to a temperature of about 300 degrees Celsius, do not evaporate.

The reactor vessel was fitted in November 1978 in the building. Also installed were already four 360 per ton steam generator. Also in the control room, the control center of the nuclear power plant, work commenced on the control and monitoring instruments. The future operating staff trained to operate already on a power plant simulator in Essen.

The primary circuit, ie the later nuclear- heated water circuit has been successfully tested in August 1979 with overpressure. This month was south of the nuclear power plant, an alternative habitat, which had been financed by Bayern AG factory with 400,000 marks, taken by representatives of the conservation authorities and handed over to the care of the community Grafenrheinfeld. The area, which had previously consisted of several gravel pits, was refuge for many animal and plant species. In 1979, the first test runs of the emergency diesel generator have been performed.

Beginning of 1980, the control center of the nuclear power plant was largely built. The reactor pit and the fuel tanks were tested for leaks. At the loading machine, the team rehearsed fiddling with the fuel. The TÜV test was also done. The information center has been up to this time attended by 100,000 people and was booked for groups of visitors to mid-May 1980. In April 1980 rose from the cooling towers on the first steam clouds. However, the nuclear power plant was not in operation, it was only the water circuit of the cooling towers tested. Half a year later ran the so-called hot trial run I, still no fuel at. Here, eight weeks were checked long next to the primary circuit 50 procedural systems of the plant for proper operation. This was done first individually, then together and always in the presence of an expert. The tests were successful. The primary circuit reached it the first time its operating temperature of 300 degrees Celsius using the circulation of water through the main coolant pumps. In the same year, the first fuel arrived.

Federal President Karl Carstens visited on February 3, 1981, the nuclear power plant and indicated that he considered the West German nuclear plants the safest in Europe, past do not keep a path to nuclear energy. The reactor pressure vessel was charged in June 1981 with the fuel and it was followed by the heat test mode II, which was still carried out without nuclear chain reaction. In this test run, among other things, the turbine was started up in the nacelle on the operating speed of 1500 revolutions per minute. The approval of the facility was granted on 10 November 1981 by the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment.

Operation

The first self-sustaining chain reaction, the so-called first criticality was set on December 9, 1981 at 21.11 clock in the reactor of the nuclear power plant in motion. However, it was still not fed electricity into the grid. This happened for the first time on 30 December 1981, but only 30 percent of rated power. The nuclear power plant was 43 months later than originally planned, and in the eleventh commercial nuclear power plant in operation in Germany. Especially the new stricter safety regulations led to this delay. The total cost of the nuclear power plant amounted to about 2.5 billion marks (equivalent to today adjusted for inflation about 2.5 billion euros ), where you originally only of 1.1 billion dollars ( 1.1 billion euros ) had gone out.

The performance of the reactor was gradually ramped up, he ran on April 20, 1982 for the first time at full load. On the construction 14,000 people were involved, at peak times were employed on the site 1500. The general contractor Kraftwerk Union, who was responsible for the construction of the plant, presented on 17 June 1982, the nuclear power plant after seven years of construction work at the Bayern AG. To surrender ceremony on July 23, 1982 about 1,000 guests came to Grafenrheinfeld and a day later a further 5,000 from the neighborhood.

The head of the power plant, the 49 -year-old Eberhard Wild, moved in July 1986 from the nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld he had passed eleven years in the Department of Nuclear power plants Bayernwerk AG in Munich. He had accompanied the construction of the nuclear power plant from the beginning. Peter Michael Schabert became his successor. Schabert was replaced in late 1991 by Erich K. Steiner, who was also one of those who were there from the beginning. 1992 hundertmilliardste kilowatt hour of electricity produced since commissioning.

In the 1990s a lot of money was invested in the nuclear power plant. The generator output of the plant was increased in 1993 by replacing the high - and low-pressure turbines of 1299 MW to 1345 MW. It created new offices and training rooms for 5 million mark. The operator of the nuclear power plant invested 40 million marks in a waste disposal building for conventional and nuclear waste, which was completed in the spring of 1994. For the same period, a pressure relief system called Wallmann valve installed. For 80 million mark an additional security system for the primary circuit was installed with DARIUS. On 13 July 1996 the Bavaria Werk AG, at the occasion of the 75th anniversary of over 25,000 people at a open day after Grafenrheinfeld. 1997, the new central building was built. The technical management of the NPP took over in January 1998 Reinhold Scheuring.

The operator, Bavaria Werk AG, merged in the summer of 2000 with the Preussen Elektra E.ON Energie, headquartered in Munich, a wholly owned subsidiary of E.ON AG, which is now the operator of the nuclear power plant.

E.ON requested on 16 May 2000, the increase in the thermal reactor output by five percent to 3,950 megawatts. The Federal Ministry for the Environment called on 20 December 2002, the Reactor Safety Commission ( RSK ) to the safety evaluation on. In this case, investigations were carried out and the radiation dose, especially the thyroid dose. The values that were measured in the years 1987, 1988, 1992, 1993 and 1994 by KFÜ mast were averaged and included in the study. The investigations of the RSK showed that in this respect no problems were expected, as before in the reactors Phillipsburg 2 and Isar 2 However, it should various changes, specifically an increase in the enthalpy rise of the coolant and a steam pressure increase made . In addition, as part of the approval process radiation studies were performed. The Federal Ministry rejected despite the favorable opinion of RSK by letter dated 3 February 2004, the performance increase on the grounds that not all evidence has been submitted by the operator and thus the conditions of the permit are not met.

Since the year 2001, MOX fuel can be used. They contain, other than uranium ( in the form of uranium dioxide ) and plutonium ( in the form of plutonium dioxide ), which is extremely toxic in addition to its radioactivity as well.

In 2006, the interim storage facility was put into operation. The nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld had produced 250 billion kilowatt hours of electricity on 20 February 2007 since commissioning. On 22 June 2007 a ceremony was held to mark the 25th anniversary of the nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld, attended by Economy Minister Michael Glos and the Bavarian Environment Minister Werner Schnappauf. Several thousand visitors were present at a party at the premises on Sunday, June 24, 2007.

Planned decommissioning

On 26 April 2002, the red-green federal government pushed through so-called nuclear consensus by the long-term phase-out of nuclear energy. Since the related amendment to the Atomic Energy Act, no new nuclear power plants should be built and in all existing residual electricity volumes were determined based on a maturity of 32 years, after which production, the plants have to be shut down. The amendment stipulated that from 1 January 2000, a total still 2.623 million gigawatt hours of electricity may be generated by Germany's nuclear power plants. This value is calculated by adding the residual electricity volumes that were allocated to each according to their age. The nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld was awarded a residual current amount of 150.03 billion kilowatt-hours, of which on 1 January 2008 69.59 billion kilowatt hours left. The residual electricity volumes were allowed to be flexible: it could flow quantities are sent a plant to another. The facility to which the residual electricity volumes are transferred, but must be younger than the plant, come the residual electricity volumes of the. E.ON nuclear power as operator of the nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld has switched off, for example, the Stade nuclear power plant before reaching the residual amount of electricity. The rest of the quota system was E.ON nuclear power as a credit available and could be taken for another nuclear power plant to complete. With an unchanged average annual performance without extended downtime and without electricity transmissions from or to other nuclear power plants, electricity production in Grafenrheinfeld would presumably have to be completed in 2014.

The Bundestag decided on 28 October 2010 with the majority of opposition parties CDU / CSU and the FDP majority, for a term extension of German nuclear power plants. The NPP Grafenrheinfeld (begun January 1, 1975, commercial operation from 17 June 1982), this gave the approval to run for 14 years longer. In the motion adopted on 6 June 2011 legislative package of the Federal Government to the energy transition, however, the decommissioning of the power plant for the end of 2015 it was decided.

On March 28, the news reported that the operator E.ON nuclear power nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld wants to take from the network in the spring of 2015. The reason the lack of profitability has been specified.

Protests

The nuclear power plant does not have a rail connection, so by 2006 the accumulated Castor containers were transported by low loader after Gochscheim, there to be loaded at the station in the town center from the low loader on the train. With this we went on to the reprocessing plant or to an intermediate warehouse. With the 2006 completed interim storage sector was responsible - until an opportunity for disposal in Germany is found - the Castor transports radioactive material. During the Verladezeitraums Gochscheim in the area was cordoned off by police. These shipments were also regular demonstrations, but always peacefully expired. In the vicinity of the loading area families living in irregular periods complained unsuccessfully against the operator of a nuclear power plant on disruption of these shipments. The lawsuit was based on increased disease cases due to the radiation. However, studies could not confirm that.

In the course of building permits for the interim storage facility, there were several demonstrations, based in Schweinfurt citizen action environmental and life protection - citizens' initiative against nuclear facilities (BA -BI), the Ecological- Democratic Party and the Federal Nature Conservation against the construction of the intermediate bearing. Firstly, the radiation protection of the interim storage appeared deemed too low, on the other hand it was with 88 parking spaces considered oversized, since the nuclear power plant could use only about 20 parking spaces, with a remaining maturity of 32 years. The protesters concluded that the nuclear power plant to stay longer in operation or container from other nuclear power plants should be stored, which would have been in turn connected to transports. Some even suspected, Grafenrheinfeld should be planning site for the construction of another nuclear power plant.

In October 2001, attracted about 250 demonstrators with banners through the pedestrian area of Schweinfurt. In May 2003 there was a large protest with about 1,000 participants. The march of demonstrators by the municipality Grafenrheinfeld was partially flanked by local residents, was generally peaceful off and made little use of police necessary.

Adopted in 2010 the towns of Schweinfurt and Würzburg and the communities of Mountain field, Gochscheim and Bergrheinfeld resolutions in which it called for a shutdown of the nuclear power plant.

In April 2011 it was revealed that at least four U.S. warplanes have practiced a dogfight type Fairchild -Republic A-10 on the power plant. The mayor of the adjacent community Schwebheim turned it in writing to the Chancellor to achieve the setting of these exercises, especially in the same month one such plane has crashed in the volcanic Eifel. The maneuvers of the U.S. military in the vicinity of the reactor took place increasingly in the following month.

Even the Schweinfurt district Leitherer turned to the government and pointed to the fears of the population by training flights of U.S. warplanes in nuclear power plant nearby. He demanded to extend the currently existing restricted radius around Grafenrheinfeld from 1.5 to 40 kilometers. He also pointed to the existing interim storage, as to his knowledge, the fuel element container of an intense heat - to withstand only a short time - such as after an explosion and a kerosene fire.

Increase in childhood cancer in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld

For the observation period 1983-1998 the incidence of childhood tumors in the vicinity of nuclear power plants shows in Bavaria a statistically significant increase of 20 % over the Bavarian average, but due to the nature of the studies (ecological and descriptive methods) basically no information on the causes this increase to be made. Between 1994 to 1998 are 4%. In the leukemias known as strahleninduzierbar no significant deviations have been found in the specified periods.

Operating profit

The produced electrical energy of the nuclear power plant mainly depends on how many days it is in normal operation on the network. In normal operation, it is always running at full capacity and could theoretically produce 11.78 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year gross. This maximum possible power production is not achieved by the audit performed annually, which can last between two and six weeks. In addition there are occasional shutdowns due to irregularities in the plant and unforeseen repairs.

The nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld was right in the first full year of operation, power plant world champion. In 1983, it produced 9.96 billion kilowatt-hours of gross electricity ( 9.41 billion kilowatt-hours of net electricity ), which is more than any other facility in the world. The next year, 1984, it was once again the most powerful nuclear power plant in the world and was awarded again this item. In addition, it set a new world record with 10.15 billion kilowatt-hours produced gross electricity ( 9.59 billion kilowatt-hours of net current) has been exceeded for the first time in the world from a nuclear power plant, the limit of ten billion kilowatt hours.

In the following years, counted the nuclear power plant of the most powerful world and placed a total of 15 times in the international top ten list. In 2001, it produced the most power in its operating history. With 11.15 billion kilowatt-hours of gross electricity came 7th place for the last time in the international top ten list. Since 2002, the nuclear power plant is no longer among the ten most powerful, although the energy produced has increased. In 2009, the nuclear power plant ( 10.45 billion kilowatt hours of net electricity ) achieved 11.06 billion kilowatt-hours of gross electricity the second best result in the operation history.

On 20 February 2007 Grafenrheinfeld celebrated its energy - anniversary. On this day, the power plant reached the amount of 250 billion kilowatt hours generated since its commissioning in December 1981. Succeeded The Grafenrheinfeld as a third nuclear power plant in the world after sub- Weser and Grohnde. The nuclear power plant has been producing performance improvement in 1993 an average of about 10.5 billion kilowatt-hours annually, equivalent to the annual electricity needs of 3.8 million households, or one-fifth of the needs of Bavaria.

The nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld among the world's nuclear power plants with the highest availability rate. Since its launch in 1982, it has until the end of 2011 an average uptime of 88.4 percent. In 2001 it had 8392 hours of operation with the highest levels of availability, which corresponds to an availability of 95.8 percent. The lowest availability was in 1990 with 6743 hours of operation and 76.97 percent. The average time that was fed into the electricity into the grid, the so-called net amount was from 1982 until the end of 2011 at 87.2 percent.

Security

The design, construction and operation of nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld documents and, like all nuclear installations in Germany numerous regulations. The Reactor Safety Commission ( RSK ) summarizes all the safety requirements to be met in the design, construction and operation of a nuclear power plant with pressurized water reactor together in guidelines. Their third issue of 14 October 1981, corrected and supplemented most recently on 15 November 1996.

Built by Western standards nuclear power plant is equipped with several active and passive barriers that prevent the escape of radioactivity during heavy operation. The nuclear area and the interim storage are surrounded by an outer enclosure, a safety barrier. The entire power plant area is also surrounded by a security fence.

Passive safety system

The passive barriers act by their construction. In the first barrier, located in the reactor core, enclose gas-tight sheaths of metal the actual nuclear fuel, the crystal lattice of uranium oxide. The second barrier of the reactor pressure vessel, which contains the fuel and its steel walls have a thickness of 25 centimeters serves. This vessel is surrounded by the third barrier, a two-meter- thick concrete chamber that shields neutron and gamma radiation. The fourth barrier consists of a spherical containment vessel that encloses the entire nuclear part of the nuclear power plant. This vessel is welded together from three centimeters thick steel plates. The volume of said container is so dimensioned that it can receive the radioactive coolant in vapor form in an accident. The last barrier only, which is visible from the outside, the two meters thick reinforced concrete shell, which has the purpose of protecting the plant against external influences.

The last barrier to the passive safety system, the externally visible reinforced concrete shell, is designed for the case of a plane crash. The German nuclear power plants have on this point to different standards. The wall thickness in the power plant Grafenrheinfeld is more than 100 centimeters, and can an unarmed Phantom withstand. In 1981, a guideline of RSK in the event of a crash of a military aircraft in force, which has already been used in the design of nuclear power plant before. The plane corresponds to an impact load of 20 tons and has an achievable at low altitude speed of about 774 kilometers per hour. Even larger aircraft to break through not necessarily the mantle, since the kinetic parameters of this military aircraft already represent the highest impact load in an impact. But major side effects such as fire and splinters effects may also lead outside the reactor building great damage to surrounding power plant structures. For the case of fire to meet particularly stringent requirements in a NPP. Inside the building there are fixed fire sections to prevent a fire can spread. Even a complete loss of the power house and the auxiliary building is according to statements of the KTA have no effect on the safe shutdown of the reactor.

The burning of fuel a crashed aircraft would theoretically flow down the reactor building and seep into the surrounding gravel. Due to the large wall thickness of the reactor building of two meters of reinforced concrete, according to the VDI inside hardly any heat be recorded.

If the outer shell is broken, then the probable breakage of internal sequence. Fragments of the engines could break through the concrete coat with the steel reinforcement and the containment. It is possible for the cooling circuit of the reactor from being damaged and suffer damage, other safety systems. If larger destruction of the pipes, the reactor pressure vessel or in the cooling circuit is necessary, however, the emergency core cooling systems could still feed enough water. See also Active security system. In such a case, the reactor protection system would trigger a RESA. The escape of radioactivity would this not be excluded.

About the CSC is to avoid conflicts with aircraft also a restricted area (ED- R 23) for VFR traffic, laterally within 3 km and vertically up to 2700 feet.

Active Safety System

These include security systems, which are active at a fault, switch off the reactor and to ensure reliable cooling by emergency and residual heat removal systems and emergency power systems. These safety systems meet all requirements that have been issued by the Nuclear Safety Standards Commission (KTA ). Several different, independent systems are responsible for the emergency cooling system, through which the heat is to be dissipated in any operating condition. Due to this diversity is largely ensured that remain in effect the other systems in case of failure of one or more security systems. The power plants' internal power supply is backed up with its own generator, the dual connection to the network system and multiple gen-sets and large battery systems.

All active safety measures are connected by the reactor protection system based on the components of the security system, such as the RHR pumps accesses. This works regardless of operating system. This should always be guaranteed in fault- triggering event occurs in the function of the reactor protection system. It monitors and continuously compares all the important operating parameters of the system, such as temperature and pressure. Achieved a system a predetermined threshold, which automatically trigger ( reactor trip and subsequent cooling of the reactor ), regardless of the operating personnel protective measures, the safety system. The threshold value is chosen so that enough time is provided to shut down the reactor before it can come as a core melt to greater problems. If there is a shutdown reactor by the reactor protection system, to the decay heat, which continues to be produced by the slowly decaying radioactive decay of the fission products are discharged, so as to avoid overheating of the fuel rods. This task should take over by loss of coolant, for example, in an incident in the primary circuit, the decay heat removal and emergency core cooling system. Thus always to be ensured adequate cooling of the reactor core. The residual heat removal and emergency core cooling systems exist four times and each consisting of pump, water tank, heat exchanger and secure power supply ( emergency diesel generator ). In detail, there are four strands to 50 % capacity for emergency cooling with a smaller leak at high pressure in the reactor cooling circuit, four strands of 50 % with a large leak in the reactor cooling circuit and four strands of 50 % for emergency power supply, if no leak is present, but a failure of the supply of the main feed water is present and - after scram - the decay heat must be removed from the reactor.

Reportable events

Since the commissioning of the nuclear power plant there until March 2011 a total of 222 incidents, which, according to the Nuclear Safety Officer and Reporting Ordinance as reportable events, but almost all below the lowest level in the seven-level International Review Nuclear Event Scale (INES ) respectively. There was an incident that was filed in the INES level 1.

June 26th and July 5th, 2000

On 26 June 2000, there was the nuclear power plant to an incident of stage 1 of the INES. At the annual audit deficiencies were five of eight control valves that had been installed a year earlier, noted. In preparing the bushes there had been contamination and exposure to atmospheric moisture for a longer system downtime for corrosion on the sockets, which affected the smooth running of the valve stems. This deficiency was filed in the INES level 1, because several components were affected by the same security features of it in similar facilities. In the same year, on 5 July 2000, there was a fire at the nuclear power plant, which damaged the engine of a main coolant pump in the immediate vicinity of the reactor pressure vessel.

2 / 3 April 2002

On the night of April 2, April 3, 2002, there was a disturbance, and then the nuclear power plant was shut down. Due to a component failure, it was shut down automatically; the diesel generators at jumped and took over the power to the nuclear power plant in all four redundancies. The cause of the failure was a defective electronic component in the non-nuclear part. With the shutdown of the plant began to interrupt the supply of electricity to the grid, but this was not a safety impact. The Association of Citizens' Initiatives for Environmental Protection ( BBU) in Bonn, then asked for a full explanation of all incidents in Grafenrheinfeld for the past three years to uncover any further, undisclosed incidents in nuclear power plants. For the investigation of the fault has been switched on by the Ministry of Environment TÜV South Germany. Following the incident, and the restoration of the auxiliary power supply, the reactor was only delayed and not ramped up to full load, since the scheduled revision of the system was laid down later for a week, from 8 April, which was carried out as planned.

November 12, 2012

On 12 November 2012, a fuse fell out in a cabinet on four occasions designed reactor protection system. Because of this defect single checkpoints were not available and it has been switched to system operation. According to the official press release of the operator E.ON this had no effect on the operation of safety-related parts of the system. The event was classified at level 0 of the INES.

November 16, 2012

During a periodic inspection in the power mode (full load) has on 16 November 2012, a pool cooling pump off automatically. This was according message of the operator, a winding circuit to the drive motor. The event was classified at level 0 of the INES. A danger for the population did not exist.

Emissions

Radiation dose

The radiation dose of the nuclear power plant is regularly measured and published in annual reports of the Nuclear Society. In recent years, the radiation dose remained below the prescribed limit, reaching a span of 0.56 mSv ( in 2003) to 3.04 mSv ( in 1999). These values are below the specified limit for radiation sickness. The average radiation exposure of people in Germany is due to environmental influences, as well as through medical examinations about 2.4 mSv per year, of which radon causes about half.

Greenhouse gas

In addition to the emission of radiation, the nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld also emits greenhouse gases. The adjacent table shows the CO2 emissions for several years.

Heat emission

Mainly due to the cooling towers and through the return line of the cooling water in the main heat is released.

Revision

Once a year, usually in April or May, will take place the revision in the nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld. The nuclear power plant is inspected and serviced here. When revising come to the approximately 300 employees more than 1000 specialists from 200 companies, such as electricians, physicists, chemists, locksmith, engineers, radiation protectors, safety experts from TÜV and others. For the annual audit of E.ON are each about 15 million euros. Each day on which the nuclear power plant does not produce electricity, costs the operator carries out several hundred thousand euros. The revision, if larger jobs are incurred, take four to six weeks. The previous shortest outage lasted 15 days. The 2010 revision began in early March 2010 and lasted for large scope of work by the end of June. During the stoppage of the reactor coolant system was chemically cleaned, the turbine control system completely replaced and converted the reactor control to digital control systems.

The annual audit means an additional economic factor for the region Schweinfurt. For the duration of revision than 1000 people must be catered for. You will stay partly in the surrounding villages. If additional resources containers are set up on the premises, and the canteen will be expanded with a tent. In addition, the security is enhanced.

With each revision of about 40 of the 193 fuel assemblies are replaced by new ones. To protect against the radiation, this substitution takes place entirely underwater. The reactor pressure vessel is to open up, flooded the area above and removed the fuel. This is done with a loading machine, the vertical and nearly five -meter-long fuel elements that have been previously released from the anchor lifts out. You will be transported under water through a sluice to the adjacent cooling ponds. The exchanged fuel remain there for several more years, so that radioactivity and heat generation to decrease significantly. With some revisions, most recently in 2006, all fuel elements are removed to check the walls and seams of the reactor vessel thoroughly. This task is performed by a equipped with a camera remote controlled mini- submarine.

The revision also extends to the non-nuclear part of the plant. In the 2006 revision was in the turbine building of the generator rotor, a 204 -ton shaft replaced. These works assume specialists who are also in coal and gas turbine power plants in operation, since it is little difference in the components that generate the electricity as the generator.

After completion of all work, the reactor is started up again, which takes about 60 hours for the power plant again operating at 100 % power.

The SPD Bundestag member Frank Hofmann ( Schweinfurt ) calls for a truly independent monitoring of the work; He currently holds the body responsible for supervision TÜV Süd not independent.

Medial processing

In the anti-nuclear novel The cloud of Gudrun Pausewang 1987 is a fictional meltdown at the nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld in which a radioactive cloud is released, the trigger action. The resulting panic of the population is portrayed dramatically on the basis of the fate of 14 -year-old Janna. In the same film, which was created in 2006, directed by Gregor Schnitzler in the style of a disaster film, a fictional nuclear power plant ( NPP market Ebersberg ) is called near Schweinfurt.

Data of the reactor block

The nuclear power plant Grafenrheinfeld has a reactor block:

86688