More than nine years after the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant was decommissioned, the highly visible cooling towers of the nuclear power plant are to be blown up in mid-August. “According to current plans, the demolition will take place between August 16th and 18th, 2024; as things currently stand, it will probably take place on Friday, August 16th,” said the Schweinfurt district office. Since the demolition depends on many factors, there could be postponements at short notice.
The Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant was in operation from 1982 to 2015. The reactor was allowed to start up again after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan in 2011, but it finally came to an end on June 27, 2015. The power plant has been dismantled since 2018. The demolition of the approximately 140-meter-high cooling towers now planned by the operator Preussen Elektra is likely to be one of the most striking steps, and not just for the population.
The power plant is located south of Schweinfurt on the banks of the Main. The construction took around eight years. The so-called pressurized water reactor had a gross output of 1,345 megawatts. The installations in the cooling towers had already been removed and disposed of in spring 2023.
During operation, several reportable events occurred in the reactor, including two within a few days in November 2012. Among other things, a cooling pump failed on November 16, 2012.
Even without the operating power plant, Grafenrheinfeld is still part of Germany’s nuclear policy – radioactive waste has been stored in the interim storage facility since 2006. There are two storage areas with a total capacity of 88 spaces for castor containers. The approval stipulates, among other things, a permissible heat output of three megawatts and is initially limited to 40 years, meaning it currently expires in 2046.