Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant
| Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant | |
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Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant: Unit A (left foreground), Units B and C (right) and their cooling towers (rear)
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 Location of Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant in Germany
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| Country | Germany |
| Location | Gundremmingen, district of Günzburg, Bavaria |
| Coordinates | 48°30′53″N 10°24′8″E / 48.51472°N 10.40222°ECoordinates: 48°30′53″N 10°24′8″E / 48.51472°N 10.40222°E |
| Construction began | 1962 |
| Commission date | April 12, 1967 |
| Owner(s) | 75% RWE 25% E.ON |
| Operator(s) | Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen GmbH |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | BWR |
| Cooling source | Danube River |
| Cooling towers | 2 |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 2 x 1,344 MW |
| Units decommissioned | 1 x 250 MW |
| Nameplate capacity | 2,688 MW |
| Capacity factor | 87.6% |
| Annual gross output | 20,629 GW·h |
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Website kkw-gundremmingen.de |
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The Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant is the highest-output nuclear power station in Germany, producing 2 × 1344 megawatts of electricity. It is located in Gundremmingen, district of Günzburg, Bavaria and is operated by Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen GmbH, a joint operation of RWE Power AG, based in Essen (75%) and E.ON Kernkraft GmbH, based in Hannover (25%). Two units, B and C, are currently in operation. Unit A was the site of the first fatal accident in a nuclear power plant and subsequently of a major accident resulting in a total loss, the only such catastrophe to date in a nuclear power plant in Germany.
Unit A was a boiling water reactor with an output of 237 megawatts, the first large nuclear power plant in Germany. It was in operation from 1966 until 1977, and during its life generated a total of 13,800 GWh of energy.
Following objections by the city of Nuremberg to the original planned location on the Danube at Bertoldsheim (between Donauwörth und Neuburg an der Donau), because of protected areas for the city's drinking water supply in the Lech estuary, the plant was instead located approximately 50 km up-river in Gundremmingen, between Dillingen und Günzburg. The plant was proposed on July 13, 1962, quickly approved, on December 14, 1962, and placed in service in December 1966. A protest group, the Notgemeinschaft Atom-Kraftwerk Gundremmingen-Offingen (Gundremmingen-Offingen Atomic Power Plant Emergency Organization) was silenced using monies specifically set aside for the purpose.
In 1975 an incident occurred in which two workers were killed by escaping steam: it was the first fatal accident in a nuclear power plant in Germany.
On January 13, 1977 a serious accident occurred that resulted in the total loss of Unit A. In cold, damp weather, two high-voltage lines carrying electricity from the plant short-circuited. The ensuing rapid shutdown of the reactor led to operational errors. Within ten minutes, there was approximately 3 meters of standing water in the reactor building and the temperature had risen to nearly 80 degrees Celsius. Through error, too much water was introduced into the reactor for emergency cooling. Pressure relief valves released between 200 and 400 cubic meters (sources vary) of radioactive coolant water into the building. The water, and also the gases, were later released from the building into the environment.
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