European utilities Vattenfall and E.ON have agreed to cooperate in decommissioning and dismantling of jointly owned nuclear power plants in Germany.
European utilities Vattenfall and E.ON have agreed to cooperate in decommissioning and dismantling of jointly owned nuclear power plants in Germany.
E.ON and Vattenfall share ownership of four nuclear plants in Germany including Stade (Vattenfall, 33%), Brunsbuettel (66.7%), Kruemmel (50%) and Brokdorf (20%). The first three units have already been shut down and Brokdorf is set to cease generation in 2021, according to the Germany phase out law implemented after the Fukushima accident in 2011.
In May, E.ON Technologies (ETG) and Vattenfall Europe Nuclear Energy (VENE) signed the cooperation deal in order to make the decommissioning process as economic as possible.
The main objective of the partnership is to incorporate experience from the largely completed dismantling of the Stade nuclear plant in Lower Saxony in the planning and implementation of the decommissioning of the other shared units.
The companies aim to jointly develop concepts such as deconstruction for the dismantling of large components and logistics, waste treatment or disposal.
The expertise acquired during the post-operational phase and dismantling should be continuously exchanged between the partners and updated, Vattenfall said.
In addition to the units shared with Vattenfall, E.ON has stakes in three other operating reactors (Grafenrheinfeld, Grohnde, and Isar 2) as well as two shuttered units (Isar 1 and Unterweser).
Photo: Disassembly of the reactor vessel at Stade (Credit: AREVA)