Vattenfall Executes Emergency Shutdown at Kruemmel Nuclear Power Plant in Germany

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Kruemmel nuclear power plant, located in Geesthacht, Germany, experienced an emergency shutdown on July 4 because of a power outage in a 33-year-old transformer. The restart date of the 1,260-megawatt (MW) plant is not yet known, according to Vattenfall AB's (Stockholm, Sweden) authorities. The reactor is scheduled to remain in operation until 2019.

The outage caused various secondary damages, and because of a damaged nuclear fuel element, the radioactivity in the reactor water was increased. The cleaning system's cooler also had problems. The power outage severely affected the power grid of Hamburg and the county of Schleswig-Holstein. Traffic lights were out, manufacturing plants and shopping malls suffered power cuts, and the local waterworks reported damage and burst pipes in their district network.

The Kruemmel nuclear power plant became operational in 1983 and is one of the oldest nuclear power plants in Germany. Since June 2007, the facility remained shuttered after a transformer fire. The plant restarted operations on June 19, 2009, after major maintenance. In 2007 there was no reactor damage and subsequent investigations uncovered no radioactive leaks. However, specialists discovered other problems related to construction and components, resulting in the plant's two-year outage. The financial blow to Vattenfall was estimated to be about $850,000 of lost electricity sales per day. More than $417 million was invested in the plant rehabilitation, according to Vattenfall. For additional information, see related news article from June 8, 2009 - Vattenfall to Restart Two German Nuclear Plants.

Germany is in the process of phasing out its nuclear program by 2020. The country has 17 nuclear reactors, with seven currently operational under strict security regulation, including audio monitoring systems in the control rooms. The audio monitoring system at the Kruemmel plant, which has been required since February 2009, was out of order on Saturday.

The German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel will decide the future of the Kruemmel Plant in the coming weeks.

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