On 25 October, the towers were inspected by specialists from a renowned German blasting company and successfully demolished one after the other. In the weeks prior to the demolition, so-called drop and vertical slots had already been inserted into the cooling tower shell. During operation, the cooling towers ensured that the Danube River was not exposed to excessive waste heat.
About 600 kilograms of explosives in a total of 1,800 boreholes were required to demolish the two cooling towers. The approximately 56,000 tonnes of material will be processed into recycled gravel, a sought-after construction material.
(Image: RWE)
Around 30,000 spectators watched the demolition from a safe distance. At 1.24 pm, the demolition was officially declared complete, allowing authorities to lift the previously established exclusion zone. Surrounding buildings of the dismantling facility, as well as the interim storage facility and neighbouring high-voltage lines, were not affected.
"We have been intensively preparing for the demolition of the cooling towers for many months in close coordination with the Günzburg district and the municipality of Gundremmingen, thus reaching an important milestone for the site," said Gundremmingen Plant Manager Heiko Ringel. "My special thanks go to the representatives of the district and municipality for their trusting and constructive cooperation over the past few weeks. The successful outcome underscores that the dismantling is proceeding safely and responsibly."
The 1284 MWe Gundremmingen B boiling water reactor (BWR) in Bavaria, southern Germany was disconnected from the grid on 31 December 2017 after 33 years of operation. Gundremmingen C - a 1288 MWe BWR - permanently shut down on 31 December 2021. The licence for dismantling unit B according to the Atomic Energy Act was granted by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection in March 2019; the licence for dismantling unit C in May 2021.
In December 2021, RWE awarded a contract to Westinghouse to dismantle the two reactors at the Gundremmingen plant. Under the contract, Westinghouse will dismantle and pack the reactor pressure vessels, including the associated internals, the fuel element storage racks and adjacent concrete shielding structures in units B and C of the Gundremmingen plant. The work is expected to be completed in 2030.
"We have been fulfilling our legal mandate to rapidly dismantle the Gundremmingen plant since January 2018 in Block B and since January 2022 in Block C," said Steffen Kanitz, member of the Executive Board of RWE Power AG responsible for the Nuclear Energy division. "The successful demolition of the two cooling towers is now also visible to the outside world that we are consistently implementing the politically agreed nuclear phase-out."
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