Grohnde Nuclear Power Plant
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Active reactors ( gross ):
The nuclear power plant Grohnde (KWG) is located north of Grohnde on the Weser River in the municipality of Emmerthal in the district of Hamelin -Pyrmont in Lower Saxony. A central component of the power plant is a pressurized water reactor of 1,300 MW building line, which by Siemens ( Kraftwerk Union ) was built. The rated output of 3,900 megawatts ( thermal). The gross electrical output is about 1,430 megawatts. To use 193 UO2 fuel assemblies come with an enrichment up to 4% 235U, and MOX fuel. An increase in the initial enrichment of 4.4% has been applied. The pressurized water reactor is the 3rd generation in Germany, the so-called pre-Convoy plants. The reactor went critical for the first time on 1 September 1984.
- 3.1 operator
- 3.2 Construction and resistance
- 3.3 Operating History
- 4.1 Social impact
Location
The nuclear power plant is located in southern Lower Saxony Grohnde on the northern edge of the mountain in the middle Weser valley about eight kilometers south of the town of Hamelin in the community Emmerthal. Administratively, it belongs to the district of Hamelin- Pyrmont. The eponymous village Grohnde is located 2 km south of the power plant site. The nuclear power plant Grohnde lies 72 meters above sea level in the here three to four miles wide extended Wesertal, which runs in a north-westerly direction in this area. The mountains on the left bank of the Weser part of the Weser mountain country that up to 350 meters rises here, on the opposite bank of the Weser show the foothills of Ith and Süntel.
The nearest village is the Latferde lying on the other bank of the Weser is 1.8 km away beside the mentioned Grohnde, otherwise the direct vicinity of the power plant, according to operator data within a radius of one kilometer uninhabited. The nearest large town is 50 km north-east lies Hanover with about 522,000 inhabitants and lies 38km east of Hildesheim with about 102,000 inhabitants. 60 km west lies Bielefeld, 55 km south- west of Paderborn. In direct within 10 kilometers approximately 80,000 people.
The site is characterized by an unexpected earthquake activity. In the last 1000 years it has here in a radius of 200 km rarely damages given by earthquakes and why he is regarded as earthquake-proof.
The nuclear power plant Grohnde is well connected to the surrounded area network: west running State Road 83 and north can be found 10 km away, the railway link Hannover- Altenbeken that go beyond the single-track line Hameln - can be reached Vorwohle from the power plant from.
The generated electricity is fed into the high- voltage grid.
Plant
A central component of the power plant is a pressurized water reactor, which is located in a spherical reactor building vent stack. Also located on site is a power house, two identical natural draft wet cooling towers with a shell height of 137.14 meters, a flow water system for cooling and intermediate storage. The whole complex is surrounded by a 2,200 -meter security fence. For delivery and pick out a tarmac road and a single-track railway line on the terrain.
Nuclear reactor
In the present in Grohnde nuclear reactor is a pressurized water reactor of the third generation, a so-called pre-Convoy - conditioning of the 1,300 - MW class. This type of reactor has been developed with modifications in the 1970s and installed in four nuclear power plants in Germany. Today, the reactor has a gross electrical power (rated power ) at the generator of 1430 megawatts ( MW). The net capacity is 1360 megawatts. These values apply only after a modification in the blade area of the generator in 1996., The given values indicate 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.
The reactor core holds 193 fuel with active 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. The system is a so-called " 4 loop plant ", with four steam generators, where the heat energy from the primary circuit through four separate contact points on the secondary circuit to drive the turbines is discharged.
The main cooling system consists of four main coolant pumps with a main power rating for each pump of 7,350 KW. The average coolant temperature here is 308.6 ° C.
To the reactor area of the reactor pressure vessel is one with an inner diameter of 5000 millimeters, with a total height including control rod drive stub of 12,300 millimeters. The total weight of the pressure vessel is about 540 tons, the wall thickness of the cylindrical portion 25 centimeters. The containment vessel is made of the steel WStE 51.
Containment
The containment vessel is designed as a ball in NPP Grohnde surrounding the nuclear reactor and its associated elements. It consists of a steel ball inside and outside of concrete. The steel ball has a wall thickness of 30 mm and a ball diameter of 56 meters. It is designed for an internal pressure of 5.3 bar. The concrete ball, according to a 1981 which came into force guideline of the Nuclear Safety Commission designed so that they can withstand the crash of a F- 4 Phantom is flying 774 km / h and with twenty tons has twice the mass of the F -104 Starfighter.
Interim storage
An interim storage facility with 100 spaces for Castor Castor V/19 of the type in which spent nuclear fuel can be stored with a heavy metal weight of 1,000 tons, was put into operation on 17 April 2006. The storage is based on the concept of the dry interim storage in metal, sealed containers in a warehouse building made of reinforced concrete. The interim storage is only 200 meters from the reactor building, its walls are 1.2 meters thick. The site is located within the protection zone V of the healing source protection area for the of Bad Pyrmont and one kilometer northeast of a water protection zone. The site interim storage in Grohnde to do transports from the NPP Grohnde superfluous in the reprocessing after its completion. Since its commissioning by the end of 2009 12 Castor containers were set at the intermediate camp.
Vent stack
The vent stack is used for targeted delivery of gaseous emissions from the reactor building in the area. The chimney has a statement by the TÜV an altitude of 130 meters. During normal operation, radioactive substances are released, subject to the amount of monitoring.
Nuclear reactor remote monitoring
In 1984 the NPP Grohnde was integrated into the nuclear power plant remote monitoring system of Lower Saxony. This monitor is operator- independent side, the emissions of radioactive substances with exhaust air or waste water from the nuclear power plant Grohnde and the other nuclear power plants in Lower Saxony and documented. Specifically, these are the values for the discharge of radioactive materials in the form of noble gases, aerosols and iodine ( 131I nuclide ) in the exhaust stack and the concentration of radioactive substances present in the waste.
Mains connection
The power supply is connected to the 380 kV high voltage level in the network of the transmission system operator TenneT TSO.
History
Operator
The nuclear power plant Grohnde has been designed and built by E.ON predecessor Preussen Elektra and Gemeinschaftskraftwerk Weser GmbH. To this end, the Community Grohnde GmbH was founded in 1975, which belonged to 50% of E.ON predecessor PreussenElektra AG, and 50 % of the joint venture power plant Weser GmbH. At the joint power plant Weser GmbH, Stadtwerke Bielefeld again, the power station Minden- Ravensburg mountain ( EMR) and the electricity Wesertal GmbH were involved to 33.3 %. On the electricity Wesertal GmbH in turn the district of Hamelin - Pyrmont district Holzminden, district and county Schaumburg Lippe was involved. On 3 December 1973, the planning application has been lodged with the Lower Saxony Ministry of Social Affairs. In 2000, the Preussen Elektra merged with Bavaria Werk AG to E.ON Energie. In February 2003, E.ON Energie AG accept with 83.3 % and the Stadtwerke Bielefeld with 16.7 %, the operating company " Community Grohnde nuclear power plant GmbH & Co. oHG".
Construction and resistance
Against the planning application submitted in the summer of 1974, more than 12,000 people a oppositions. At the public hearing on 3/4 October 1974 were presented the concerns. Nevertheless, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Social Affairs issued on 8 June 1976, the first partial construction permit. Against the construction of nuclear power plant occurred in Grohnde to another, sometimes violent protests. A demonstration with around 15,000 demonstrators and about 5,000 police officers on 19 March 1977, to an attempted Plot Cast ( inspired by the protest against the nuclear power plant Wyhl ). With many injuries, this was the most violent confrontation until then the West German history demonstration. She went as the " Battle of Grohnde " in the history of protests of the anti - nuclear movement a. The violence led to controversial discussions about the legitimacy of different methods of protest.
Operating history
In operation, start-up, the reactor was first critically on September 1, 1984. The plant started its commercial operation in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act on 1 February 1985.
In calendar year 1997, the nuclear power plant reached a peak with a gross power generation of 12,528,660 MWh. Also produced in the years 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1998, the plant, the highest gross nominal working world.
Operator is the community Grohnde nuclear power plant GmbH & Co. oHG with the respective participating shareholders E.ON Kernkraft GmbH to 83.3 % and Stadtwerke Bielefeld to 16.7 %.
The partners of the nuclear power plant Grohnde are the nuclear power plants south Ukraine in Ukraine, Bohunice in Slovakia and Trillo in Spain.
2011 were employed in the nuclear power plant, 345 employees.
On 30 March 2011 it was rumored that the thermal efficiency of the plant was increased from 3,900 to 4,000 megawatts in revision 2009. Here the turbine blades supposedly exchanged by the operator. According to press reports at the time was no prior approval of the Ministry. In retrospect, the claim turned out to be groundless. The changes made to the high-pressure part of the turbine were not subject to regulatory control, and the increase in thermal performance that has never happened.
Early 2013 it came up for discussion on the use of MOX fuel assemblies. Various citizens' groups expressed very critical about the planned use of 8 MOX fuel. On 13 May 2013, the Lower Saxony Environment Minister Stefan Wenzel gave ( Alliance 90/The Greens ) after detailed discussion with various environmental organizations with the approval to restart the green light for the use of these MOX fuel in nuclear power plants Grohnde.
With the enactment of the Atomic Energy Act to the final shutdown of the nuclear power plant Grohnde after reaching a fixed residual amount of electricity, but no later than December 31, 2021.
Malfunctions and Reportable Events
In 1985, fell to during an inspection that the high-pressure emergency cooling system was not functional because one of the four pumps gas contained water instead. The other three pumps contained in their leads an unacceptable amount of gases. A leak in the primary coolant circuit would thus can lead to meltdown.
In 1996 it came briefly to an unforeseen opening the pressure relief valve holder on the primary circuit through incorrect operation during the execution of a test. Because of the shortcomings in the testing procedure, the disorder was classified as a reportable event INES level 1.
On July 11, 2005, there came by a failure to shutdown of several components. The further opening of the minimum flow valves, the feedwater pumps a Unterspeisungstransiente was triggered, which meant that the steam generator level fell below 8.5 meters and there was a turbine and reactor scram. After the cause of the fault was cleared, the reactor adopted on 12 July at 0:32 clock power operation again.
On 24 July 2005, at 9:16 clock came to a turbine control disorder, causing a load shedding of 240 MW. This led to a reactor scram. After the error is corrected, the reactor was ramped up around 12 hours later in the power operation.
Since 1985, over 200 reportable events were known.
Social impact
15 January 2011 demonstrated several hundred opponents of nuclear power against the planned MOX transport of 16 MOX fuel from the British reprocessing plant at Sellafield nuclear power plant Grohnde in 2011.
On Easter Monday, 2011 found themselves on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, police records show 5,000 demonstrators at a nuclear power plant, the organizer speaks of up to 20,000 protesters. They surrounded the 2200 -meter-long fence around the nuclear power plant. Event spokesman Ralf straw Bach said: " Nuclear power is a constant threat to our region."
The second anniversary of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima 20,000 demonstrators have shown with a human and action chain in a ring of 40 to 60 km around the nuclear power plant Grohnde what extent does an evacuation as in Fukushima for the region.
Safety of the nuclear power plant Grohnde
In the so-called stress tests of the European Commission from 2011/2012 the Grohnde nuclear power plant will be certified too little precaution in case of earthquakes. The Commission sees retrofitting requirements for instruments to announce any earthquake.
Data of the reactor units
The nuclear power plant Grohnde has a power block that contains a pressurized water reactor of 1,300 MW building line, which by Siemens ( Kraftwerk Union ) was built. It is protected by a spherical reactor shell of 180 cm of concrete. You should be able to survive the crash of an Airbus A320.
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 runs almost always under full load, and thus serves the base load supply in the power network. The maximum possible power production is not achieved by the revision to be carried out annually, which can last between two and six weeks and is recognized mostly in April. In addition there are occasional shutdowns due to irregularities in the plant and unforeseen repairs.