Grohnde nuclear fuel transfer completed

Grohnde was shut down on 31 December 2021. PreussenElektra - a subsidiary of EOn Group - applied for approval to decommission and dismantle the 1,360 MWe pressurised water reactor in October 2017. In December 2023, the Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection issued the first decommissioning and dismantling permit to PreussenElektra for the Grohnde plant, with dismantling work beginning in the following month.

To achieve fuel-free status, a total of 694 fuel assemblies have been transferred from the plant's storage pool into CASTOR used fuel storage casks since 2023.

On 7 April, the last CASTOR container was successfully loaded, removed from the reactor building, and transferred to the Grohnde interim storage facility for used fuel elements.

"This means that the radioactive core of the plant has been completely removed – and with it, over 99% of the radioactivity," PreussenElektra said.

Plant manager Jörg Bornemann said: "The elimination of nuclear fuel is an important milestone in the decommissioning of our plant. It forms the basis for further technical and organisational adjustments. Now we can shut down and dismantle further systems and reduce staffing levels. Their valuable expertise is urgently needed elsewhere – for example, for the dismantling of the reactor pressure vessel internals, which will begin at the end of this year."

PreussenElektra noted that in order to carry out the fuel transfer operation, various components and plant parts had to first be removed from the area of ​​the emptied used fuel pool to create the necessary storage, handling, dismantling, and packaging areas. The newly constructed transport preparation hall is  now available for receiving the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste from the decommissioning process. The Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection granted the necessary permit for the storage of radioactive waste and residues at the beginning of April.

Decommissioning of the Grohnde plant is scheduled for completion by 2039. Afterwards, the plant site will be available for redevelopment. About 500 people are currently employed at the site.

PreussenElektra is responsible for the decommissioning of eight nuclear power plants in Germany. Isar 2 was the last of the PreussenElektra plants to cease operations on 15 April 2023. The Brokdorf and Grohnde plants were shut down on 31 December 2021. With the already decommissioned Isar 1, Stade, Unterweser and Würgassen plants, all of PreussenElektra's nuclear facilities are now in various phases of decommissioning and dismantling. The company's goal is to dismantle its power plant fleet by 2040.