Stade Nuclear Power Plant

Stade Nuclear Power Plant
Location of Stade Nuclear Power Plant in Germany
Official name	Kernkraftwerk Stade
Country	Germany
Location	Bassenfleth
Coordinates	53°37′12″N 9°31′51″E / 53.62000°N 9.53083°E / 53.62000; 9.53083Coordinates: 53°37′12″N 9°31′51″E / 53.62000°N 9.53083°E / 53.62000; 9.53083
Status	Closed
Construction began	1967
Commission date	May 19, 1972
Decommission date	November 14, 2003
Owner(s)	E.ON (66.7%) Vattenfall Europe (33.3%)
Operator(s)	Kernkraftwerk Stade GmbH E.ON
Nuclear power station
Reactor type	PWR
Power generation
Make and model	Siemens
Units decommissioned	1 x 672 MW
Annual generation	4,481 GW·h
Website Site c/o E.ON

The Nuclear power station Stade (German: Kernkraftwerk Stade, KKS) operated from 1972 to 2003 in Bassenfleth close to the Schwinge river mouth into the Elbe river. It was the first nuclear plant shut down after Germany's nuclear phase out legislation and is currently undergoing the decommissioning process (Phase 2: Deconstruction of larger modules in the containment building^[1]).

The station is located at the left bank of the Elbe in Stadersand, a locality of Stade, to the west of Hamburg in Lower Saxony beside another shut down power station Schilling Power Station. The KKS was based upon a light water reactor.

History

The power plant was built by the Siemens company and started operation on May 19, 1972 shortly after having reached the first criticality on January 8, 1972.^[2] Between March, 1972 and November, 2003 the KKS supplied electrical power of 662 MW (internal) resp. 630 MW (external), as well as 1,892 MW thermal power. Until September 7, 2005, the power plant ran in "post-operational" mode, since then it is in "residual" mode.

During the 31 years of operation, 157 fuel elements have been consumed, since December 15, 1988 also fuel elements containing 4% uranium. Since 1984, the nearby saltern has been supplied with process steam. This was the first supply of thermal energy by a nuclear power station. On Friday, November 14, 2003, at 8:32 a.m. the Stade nuclear power plant has been shut down. The operating company E.ON officially assigned economical reasons, however, Germany's nuclear phase out act of 2000 surely provided also a political motivation.

Deconstruction

The power plant deconstruction is divided into 5 phases, which shall be completed until 2015.

• Phase 1: Deconstruction of machinery and parts, which are not required for "residual" operation. Preparation of further steps and infrastructure.
• Phase 2: Deconstruction of large components in the containment building
• Phase 3: Deconstruction of the pressure containment building and the biological shield
• Phase 4: Deconstruction of the remaining contaminated parts. Proof of absence of contamination. Release of remaining structures out of governmental nuclear supervision.
• Phase 5: Destruction of conventional structures.

On April 27, 2005 the last fuel cells have been moved away from the KKS. Nevertheless, the department of the environment of lower Saxony authorized storage of weak nuclear waste until 2046.^[3]

Consequences

After shutdown of the Stade nuclear power plant, the operation of the nearby saltern has been shut down also.^[4]

Meanwhile it is planned to construct a black coal power plant with almost the same power as the KKS.^[5] This requires extension of the harbour of Stade-Bützfleth with a coal terminal for 1.7 million t black coal.^[6]

See also

• Anti-nuclear movement in Germany
• Germany's nuclear phase out legislation

References

External links

• Information brochure from Operator E.ON
• Official state of deconstruction (German)

• 

  The Stade NPP

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