Kalkar nuclear power plant

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Kalkar nuclear power plant
Kalkar nuclear power plant, 2004
Kalkar nuclear power plant, 2004
location
Kalkar nuclear power plant (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Kalkar nuclear power plant
Coordinates 51 ° 45 ′ 47 "  N , 6 ° 19 ′ 37"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 45 ′ 47 "  N , 6 ° 19 ′ 37"  E
Country: Germany
Data
Owner: Fast breeder nuclear power plant company MBH
Operator: Fast breeder nuclear power plant company MBH
Project start: 1970
Shutdown: March 20, 1991

Completed reactors (gross):

1 (327 MW)

Planning set (gross):

1 (1500 MW)
Was standing: June 6, 2008
The data source of the respective entries can be found in the documentation .
f1

The former Kalkar Nuclear Power Station (also known as SNR-300 for S chneller N sodium-cooled R eaktor or "fast breeder") in Kalkar on the Lower Rhine was completed in 1985 but never went into operation. The project was discontinued in 1991 due to security and political concerns. Due to the enormous costs of construction and the subsequent provision for possible later operation, the power plant became one of the largest investment ruins in Germany . Later, the former nuclear power plant was bought and an amusement park, known as Wunderland Kalkar (until 2005 Kernwasser Wunderland ), was built on its area.

Key data

The highest parts of the plant are 93 meters high.

history

prehistory

The first “fast” reactor (meaning the speed of neutrons ) was built in the USA in 1946 as a neutron source for research and was named Clementine . It was a reactor technology that was fundamentally different from the graphite-moderated reactors built up to that point . A breeder reactor can not only use the comparatively rare uranium isotope 235 U, but also convert the much more common 238 U into fissile plutonium , whereby it breeds more plutonium than it consumes 235 U.

The first industrial-scale breeder reactor went into operation in 1973 in Aktau (then Shevchenko), USSR . The Aqtau nuclear power plant had a type BN-350 reactor that supplied 150 MW of electrical power and 200 MW of process heat for desalination of seawater from Lake Caspian . The plutonium produced was used for the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons program and other nuclear power plants.

Since the uranium reserves in what was then West Germany were limited (the third largest mining area in the world was located in East Germany), the proponents of atomic energy, especially Wolf Häfele , hoped that the construction of a breeder reactor would bring about a much more efficient use of these reserves, so that Germany could for the foreseeable future could become independent of energy imports for power generation. The first German breeder reactor KNK- I was built in Karlsruhe between 1971 and 1974 and converted into a fast breeder named KNK-II in 1977 . In autumn 1972, the Belgian-German-Dutch Schnell-Brüter-Kernkraftwerksgesellschaft mbH was founded in Essen at the instigation of Heinrich Mandel . This company commissioned the Siemens subsidiary Interatom to build the fast breeder in Kalkar. The construction costs were estimated at 1.8 billion DM with an output of 300 MW, the site should cover around 17,000 square meters.

Approval and construction

Construction site, September 1977
Construction site, July 1981

The Weisweiler near Aachen site, initially planned by RWE , next to the local lignite power station , had to be abandoned in 1971 following an objection by the federal government: Due to the high population density in the Aachen area, a breeder there seemed too risky, and RWE had to switch to the sparsely populated area near Kalkar. Criticism of the power plant construction soon arose. On March 20, 1972, the public hearing began as part of the approval process. The SPD member of the Bundestag, Helmut Esters, asked critical questions . Technical objections came from the physicists Karl Bechert and Hannes Alfvén as well as the World Association for the Protection of Life . The foundation stone was laid on April 25, 1973. In 1974 a demonstration with several thousand participants, mostly from the Netherlands , took place in Kalkar . In 1976, Klaus Traube , head of Interatom with a 20-year career in the nuclear industry , was dismissed on suspicion of passing on information to opponents of nuclear power and sympathy for the RAF after an illegal wiretapping by the constitution protection and entered into open opposition to the project and the use of nuclear energy in general.

On September 24, 1977, there was a large demonstration in Kalkar at which 40,000 people protested against the completion of the plant. The police force ordered for this purpose is considered to be the largest in the history of the Federal Republic.

Concerns were raised in the face of the 1979 disaster at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg in the USA , in which the reactor core partially melted, and the growing anti-nuclear movement . For example, the future Environment Minister of Saarland , Jo Leinen ( SPD ), said that at some point the technology would have to be exported for reasons of profitability. Since plutonium can also be used to manufacture atomic bombs , in contrast to the weakly enriched uranium in conventional reactors, this would give countries access to atomic bombs that previously did not have them.

In addition to this objection, there were above all security concerns. A reactor of this type is said to be more difficult to control and therefore more dangerous. In particular, a nuclear runaway, the Bethe Tait incident , cannot be ruled out. In addition, liquid sodium was used for cooling , which is chemically very aggressive and reacts violently with water.

The opponents of the project lodged a constitutional complaint before the Federal Constitutional Court . The inquiry commission of the Bundestag obtained a four-year interruption of the construction. The concerns should be dispelled by tightening security requirements. However, this also made the project more and more expensive. In 1969 the reactor was supposed to be built at a fixed price of 500 million marks (today approx. 900 million euros), by 1972 the price had risen to 1.7 billion marks. Now it cost a total of 7 billion marks, more than four times the price of 1972, and even fourteen times the original price of 1969. In 1978, the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia , supported at that time by a coalition of SPD and FDP , swung to one Anti-nuclear course around. The energy-political reasons for entering the plutonium economy were considered insufficient. As a result, the partial construction permit was blocked by the Minister of Economics, Horst Ludwig Riemer (FDP). This triggered a crisis.

The protests became increasingly radical in the early 1980s.

  • Anti-nuclear demonstration in Kalkar, 1974

  • Police cordon off at the large demonstration, September 24, 1977

  • Anti-nuclear demonstration in Kalkar, 1979

  • Protest, 1980

  • "Anti-nuclear village" in front of the power plant, 1981

  • Anti-nuclear demonstration in Kalkar, 1982

Completion, non-commissioning and final shutdown

Kalkar nuclear power plant, September 1985

Ultimately, the building was completed in 1985. From this point on, the liquid sodium circulated in the cooling circuit and had to be kept warm with electrical heating elements in order not to freeze. In principle, the reactor was ready for use and operating costs were now 105 million DM per year (today approx. 96 million euros).

Contrary to the wishes of the federal government at the time (a coalition of CDU / CSU and FDP ), the state of North Rhine-Westphalia refused the operating license. According to nuclear law, the federal government could have enforced approval by issuing instructions, but it did not want to assume sole responsibility for the safety-related controversial SNR project. The NRW Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Friedhelm Farthmann (SPD), who was responsible for building permits, did not consider the commissioning to be justifiable, as the risks could not be calculated and the previous construction permits had only been issued with reservations. The fuel elements were therefore not allowed to be brought into the reactor core.

After the election, Farthmann left the government, so the responsibility for permits fell to Reimut Jochimsen (SPD) from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. However, the course that had previously been taken was stuck to hindering the commissioning of the reactor against the wishes of the then Christian - liberal federal government. The funds available to the state were used for this purpose: Jochimsen subjected the applications to lengthy examinations that were formally correct, but, in the opinion of SNR supporters, delayed the whole process until the final end of the reactor was more or less inevitable.

The electricity suppliers were also less and less interested in commissioning, as energy consumption in West Germany had increased more slowly than originally expected. In addition, the available uranium reserves were also larger than expected, so there was no longer any compelling reason to quickly bring the nuclear reactor online. Most recently, in 1986, as a result of the Chernobyl disaster, the mood against the reactor finally changed.

Federal Research Minister Heinz Riesenhuber (CDU) announced this on March 21, 1991 since plant components would become radioactive if they were put into operation, which in the event of premature decommissioning, such as the high-temperature reactor in Hamm, would lead to high dismantling costs and prevent further use of the building Final end for the power plant. This finally turned the mega-project into one of the largest investment ruins in Germany.

SNR-2

Another breeder reactor was considered in the original plans. The fast, sodium-cooled reactor 2 (SNR-2 for short) should initially have a projected gross output of 2,000 MW el and would have become the largest nuclear reactor in the world. At the beginning of the 1980s, the plans were changed and the planned output initially reduced to 1600 MW el , later to 1500 MW el . The net output should be 1380 MW el . Construction was to begin a few years after the SNR-300 was commissioned. However, since this was not put into operation, the SNR-2 was not implemented either. According to various sources, Kalkar was not yet set as the location for the SNR-2.

Dismantling the plant

The cooling tower as a climbing wall

Demolishing the building would have cost 75 million euros, which was out of the question for economic reasons. They began to slowly sell new and never used devices and machines.

The first reactor core supplied by Nukem and Alkem , which was never used, was in state custody in Hanau until 2005 . The owner of the core was RWE Power AG , which, however, did not have a license to handle the fuel, which was enriched to around 35% plutonium . The plutonium was integrated into so-called MOX fuel elements at the La Hague reprocessing plant in France , which may be used in conventional nuclear power plants.

Re-use of the building

The building itself was advertised in the newspaper. Ultimately, the Dutch investor Hennie van der Most bought the site and converted it into the Wunderland Kalkar amusement park ( called Kernwasser Wunderland until early 2005 ). There is an all-inclusive hotel with 1000 beds and meeting rooms. According to uncertain information, the purchase price of the site, including the building, was 2.5 million euros - a negligibly small proportion of the built-up material value. The iron parts of the power plant are currently being removed and recycled. The amusement park should continue to expand. A tour of the main building has not been possible since 2003 due to the utilization.

Data of the reactor blocks

A reactor was under construction at the Kalkar nuclear power plant, and another was planned:

Reactor type net
power 		gross
power 		start of building Project setting (construction stop)
SNR-300 295 MW 327 MW April 23, 1973 March 20, 1991
SNR-2 2000 MW 2160 MW - Planning discontinued

Protest songs

As part of the protests against the construction and commissioning of the reactor, some protest songs were also written. The farmer Maas from Hönnepel became a symbolic figure : “Farmer Maas. Songs against atomic energy ”, various interpreters and others. a. Walter Mossmann ; LP (pass op Verlag) 1979.

literature

See also

Web links

Commons : Kernkraftwerk Kalkar  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c The amount was determined with the template: Inflation and relates to last January.
  2. ↑ http://www.afsbw.de/content/downloads/Liste_LFH_2005.pdf .
  3. ↑ a b WESER-KURIER, 12./13. February 1972, page 49
  4. ↑ J. Radkau, L. Hahn: Rise and Fall of the German Nuclear Industry, Oekom Verlag Berlin (2013)
  5. ^ Power plant ruin in Kalkar - Brüter zu Flugbahnen , FAZ.net, April 25, 2013
  6. ↑ Werner Meyer-Larsen: The Colossus of Kalkar . In: Der Spiegel . No. 43 , 1981, pp. 42-55 ( online ).
  7. ↑ as posted in the breeder museum in Kernie's leisure park, statement from 1990.
  8. ↑ Nuclear power plant SNR-2 at the PRIS of the IAEA ( Memento from June 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
  9. ↑ The core issue of nuclear energy . Die Zeit, Issue No. 39, 1977.
  10. ↑ A second breeder - does that have to be? . Die Zeit, Issue No. 14, 1985.