Westinghouse Lands German Nuclear Decommissioning Deal

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - Westinghouse Electric Company (Monroeville, Pennsylvania) has secured a contract to dismantle the reactor pressure vessel and its internals at Unit 1 of Germany's Philippsburg nuclear power plant.

The plant, which was forced to stop generating electricity in 2011, will be decommissioned at a cost of approximately $1.8 billion. It is owned by EnBW Kernkraft GmbH, part of Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW) (Karlsruhe, Germany).

Westinghouse will lead a consortium of companies on the project, including NUKEM Technologies GmbH (Alzenau, Germany) and GNS (Essen, Germany). NUKEM Technologies operates in the areas of management of radioactive waste and spent fuel, decommissioning of nuclear facilities, engineering and consulting. GNS specialises in the management of wastes and residual materials from all of Germany's commercial nuclear power plants. The company also builds casks and containers for high level radioactive wastes and operates two interim storage depots at Gorleben and Ahaus.

"We are very pleased to be awarded this contract," said Dr. Norbert Haspel, Westinghouse vice president and managing director, Central Europe. "With this project we are able to sustain our fruitful cooperation with EnBW through the deployment of safe, proven Westinghouse technology to their decommissioning activities."

"GNS contributes its extensive experience from more than 100 projects concerning the processing and packaging of activated reactor components," added Dr. Hannes Wimmer, chairman of the GNS Board of Managing Directors. "Our...conditioning and packaging equipment ensures process reliability and compliance with the specifications for transport, interim storage and final disposal."

Philippsburg 1, along with EnBW's Neckarwestheim 1, were among the first casualties of Germany's shock u-turn on nuclear energy in 2011, just months after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan earlier that year. That summer the government announced that it would stop using nuclear power and proceed with the closure of all the country's 17 reactors over the coming decade. For additional information, see May 30, 2011, article - Germany Votes to Dump Nuclear Power.

The decision saw the immediate closure of the seven oldest nuclear plants, including Philippsburg 1 and Neckarwestheim 1. It has led to long-running legal battles between the government and leading German energy companies over the billions of euro in lost earnings and the associated costs of decommissioning the plants earlier than planned.

In January, EnBW became the fourth utility to launch a multi-billion euro lawsuit against the government for what it called the 'unlawful' closure in 2011 of its two reactors. For additional information, see January 8, 2015, article - EnBW Sues Germany For Nuclear Shut Down.

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