Neckarwestheim (dpa/lsw) – After the annual safety check, Block II of the Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant (Heilbronn district) is back on the grid. This was announced by the operator, the Karlsruhe energy supplier EnBW, on Saturday. In the past few weeks, around 2,000 inspection and maintenance jobs have been carried out – including, for example, on turbines or generators and in the nacelle. According to the information, it is the last so-called revision before the final shutdown of the reactor at the end of the year. The kiln will be shut down forever by December 31 at the latest.
Unlike in previous years, no new fuel elements were used in the reactor pressure vessel. “Rather, the reactor was equipped with the existing fuel elements in such a way that electricity production is possible until the end of the legally defined term,” said EnBW.
All around 16,400 heating pipes of the four steam generators in the power plant had been checked and all were tight, it was said. Slight weakening of the wall thickness was found in 35 of the pipes and the pipes were then stabilized and sealed.
The pressurized water reactor, which went into operation in 1989, has an output of 1400 megawatts. According to the information, the plant produced more than eleven billion kilowatt hours of electricity last year.
After the GKN II unit has been shut down, dismantling of the plant is to begin. Block I at the Neckarwestheim site (GKN I) has been shut down for good since 2011 and has been dismantled since 2017.
