Großwelzheim Nuclear Power Plant

Großwelzheim Nuclear Power Plant, (German: Kernkraftwerk Großwelzheim, HDR), was an experimental nuclear power plant consisting of one 25 MW reactor in Großwelzheim, a district of Karlstein am Main.

Großwelzheim Nuclear Power Plant
Karlstein am Main, Location of the plant
CountryGermany
LocationKarlstein am Main, Bavaria
Coordinates50°3′29″N 8°59′13″E
StatusDecommissioned
Construction beganJanuary 1, 1965
Commission dateJuly 17, 1961
Decommission dateApril 20, 1971
Owner(s)Heißdampfreaktor-Betriebsgesellschaft mbH
Nuclear power station
Reactor typeBoiling water reactor
Thermal capacity100 MWt
Power generation
Units decommissioned1 x 25 MWe
Annual net output6.2 GWh (in 1971)

The prototype boiling water reactor, designed to produce superheated steam was under construction from 1965 to 1969, and was first connected to the power grid on October 14th, 1969. The reactor could not be run at full capacity due to structural defects in the fuel elements.[1] Because of this, the reactor was switched off about a year and a half later on April 20, 1970.[2]

Karlstein am Main coat of arms.

After the decommissioning in 1983, the plant was used for reactor safety tests until dismantling was completed in 1998.[3]

The site also included the Kahl Nuclear Power Plant, the first nuclear reactor to be built in Germany, as well as the first to be shut down. This makes the site the first in Germany where two reactors have been dismantled.

When the community of Karlstein am Main was created in 1975, an atomic symbol was included in the municipal coat of arms, due to the two reactors present in the newly formed town.

Reactors

Großwelzheim Nuclear Power Plant had one Reactor:[2]

Reactor Reactor Type Net Capacity Gross Capacity Construction Start First Grid Connection Commercial Operation Start Permanent Shutdown Date
HDR Großwelzheim Prototype Boiling Water Reactor 23 MW 25 MW Jan. 1, 1965 Oct. 14, 1969 Aug. 2, 1970 April 20, 1971

References

  1. Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe: Der Rückbau des Heißdampfreaktors (HDR) in Karlstein am Main (PDF; 323 kB), accessed April 23, 2013
  2. "PRIS - Reactor Details". www.iaea.org. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
  3. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology: Lexikon zur Kernenergie, Stichwort "HDR" (PDF; 7,6 MB), Accessed January 1, 2018
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