Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant

Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant

The Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant
Location of Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant in Germany
Official name Kernkraftwerk Obrigheim
Country Germany
Location Obrigheim, Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis
Coordinates 49°21′52″N 9°04′35″E / 49.36444°N 9.07639°E / 49.36444; 9.07639Coordinates: 49°21′52″N 9°04′35″E / 49.36444°N 9.07639°E / 49.36444; 9.07639
Status Mothballed
Construction began 1965
Commission date March 31, 1969
Decommission date May 11, 2005
Owner(s) EnBW
Nuclear power station
Reactor type PWR
Reactor supplier Siemens-Schuckert
Power generation
Units decommissioned 1 x 357 MW
Annual generation 2,593 GW·h
Website
Site c/o EnBW

The Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant (KWO) is a mothballed nuclear power plant in Obrigheim, Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, at the river Neckar. It operated one pressurized water reactor unit.

History

The Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant on the left
View of the nuclear power plant
The nuclear power plant in 1979

Planning

On May 5, 1955 the Federal Republic of Germany, with the French occupation force, started to work seriously towards peaceful use of nuclear energy. Particularly the district of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg were interested in such development. In 1957 the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kernkraft Stuttgart (AKS) group had already been created in Baden-Württemberg. The president and minister of economics of Baden-Württemberg at the time, Hermann Veit took over the project of establishing a nuclear power plant, and looked towards the Calder Hall Gas cooled reactor in England for a design.

In spring 1959, AKS chose an exotic reactor design, the organically moderated and cooled reactor (OMR). When the much smaller AEC demonstration facility at Piqua, Ohio reported severe problems, they switched to a light water reactor in 1962.

Power line to the plant

The electric power generated by Obrigheim Nuclear Power Station was transported by a single powerline to Hüffenhardt substation. This powerline carries 4 circuits, 2 for 220 kV and 2 for 110 kV. Hereby the circuits for 110 kV are mounted on the lowest of the three crossbars of the pylons, whereby the circuits for 220 kV are mounted on the middle and the upper crossbar of the pylons.

An interesting feature of the powerline is, that between the pylons insulators are monted between the conductors in order to prevent short circuits by too close conductor clearance when strong wind occurs.

Meteorological towers

For radioactivity monitoring there were two meteorological towers, which were both built as guyed lattice steel mast. One of them was built in 1977/78 between Asbach and Kirstätter Hof at 49 20 30 N and 9 02 47 E. In 2001 this 169 metres tall guyed mast was demolished by explosives. On its site afterwards a free-standing mobile phone transmission tower consisting of prefabricated concrete was built. The other meteorological tower, which is 99 metres tall and situated close to the power plant, was erected in 1962 and is still in use.

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, March 01, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.