Vattenfall to Restart Two German Nuclear Plants

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Energy company Vattenfall AB (Stockholm, Sweden) is to seek permission to reopen its German nuclear plant Kruemmel, which has been kept offline since a 2007 fire. "Kruemmel is almost ready to go live but of course requires approval while the time schedule for Brunsbuettel is not as firm," CEO Lars Josefsson said at the Reuters Energy Summit in Stockholm. "No firm statement can be made about Brunsbuettel but we are still looking at the balance of this year [for the restart]." Vattenfall is hoping to restart Kruemmel in July and Brunsbuettel by the end of the year.

Kruemmel, a 1,316-megawatt (MW) plant near Hamburg in northern Germany, suffered a major fire at the plant in June 2007. On the same day, a short circuit at the company's 806-MW Brunsbuettel nuclear facility forced an emergency shutdown. There was no damage to either reactors and subsequent investigations discovered no radioactive leaks. However, investigators discovered other problems related to construction and components used, resulting in both plants being shut down for the past two years. The financial blow to Vattenfall was estimated at about $850,000 per day in lost electricity sales.

Kruemmel, which Vattenfall operates with E.ON (OTC:EONGY) (Duesseldorf, Germany), opened in 1983 and is one of Germany's oldest working reactors. Germany, however, is in the process of phasing out its nuclear programme by 2020 because of a law passed in 2000 by the then-Green Party-led coalition government. Germany has 17 reactors in all, with seven still operational and providing up to one-third of the country's power. The envisioned energy shortfall was meant to be replaced by renewable energy sources but, despite admirable progress, Germany is facing a serious energy crisis when it loses its nuclear capacity.

In related news, Vattenfall has put its plans for entering the revived U.K. nuclear market on hold, blaming harsh economic conditions.

"Given the economic recession and market situation Vattenfall has decided to put any decisions on participating in the U.K.'s nuclear new build programme on hold for the next 12-18 months," the company said in a statement. "Vattenfall retains a significant interest in the U.K. energy market and will maintain a presence in the U.K. to monitor developments in nuclear new build."

The company said its plans for developing a bigger U.K. wind portfolio will not be affected by the decision.

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