Biblis Nuclear Power Plant

Biblis Nuclear Power Plant
Unit A, seen from South-West with two cooling towers
Location of Biblis Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Location	Biblis
Coordinates	49°42′36″N 8°24′55″E / 49.71°N 8.41528°E / 49.71; 8.41528Coordinates: 49°42′36″N 8°24′55″E / 49.71°N 8.41528°E / 49.71; 8.41528
Status	Closed for moratorium 17th March 2011 (Earmarked not to return following moratorium on nuclear power)
Construction began	1969
Commission date	August 25, 1974
Operator(s)	RWE
Constructor(s)	Siemens Hochtief
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1 x 1,255 MW 1 x 1,300 MW
Reactor type(s)	PWR
Reactor supplier(s)	Siemens
Turbine information
Manufacturer(s)	Siemens
Power generation information
Installed capacity	2,525 MW
Annual generation	15,306 GW·h
Net generation	439,973 GW·h
Website Site c/o RWE
As of 13 November 2010

The Biblis Nuclear Power Plant is in the South Hessian municipality of Biblis and consists of two units: unit A with a gross output of 1200 megawatts and unit B with a gross output of 1300 megawatts. Both units are pressurized water reactors. The operator of this power plant is the German RWE Power AG, an electrical utility based in Essen. unit A began operation on July 16, 1974 and entered commercial service on August 25, 1974. unit B reached criticality on March 25, 1976.

On December 17, 1987 an incident (INES 1) occurred: Coworkers overlooked a stop valve that had not been closed. In order to close the armature a valve was opened. Radioactive primary cooling agent discharged for a short time into the annular space. Because the discharge of the reactor cooling water took place outside of the reactor containment, there was no feedback from the sump over the safety feeding pumps and/or cooling pumps. The incident became public one year later, when an article in an American technical periodical (Nucleonic Weeks) was published. There have been other incidents afterwards, none of which has been rated over 1 on INES scale.^{[citation needed]}

In the course of a routine swap of unit A's fuel assembly in September 2010 a malfunction of its emergency system was detected. The automated switchover of the power supply from unit B to A proved broken, which meant that the ability to perform countermeasures would have been severely impaired in case of an emergency. Previous demands by Germany's Green party and the IPPNW to construct an external control stand were refused by Hessen's environment minister Lucia Puttrich (CDU) on the ground that both units could provide each other with energy should an incident occur.^[1]

Biblis is the partner power station of the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant^{[citation needed]}.

Incidents

INES Events [2]	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006
INES 0 Biblis A	6	7	10	5	8
INES 0 Biblis B	7	14	6	9	12
INES 1 Biblis A	0	0	0	0	1
INES 1 Biblis B	0	0	0	0	0

See also

• Nuclear power in Germany
• Anti-nuclear movement in Germany

Images

• 

  Biblis Nuclear Power Plant (Germany), block A (right) - block B (left)

• 

  Security measures on South site

• 

  Ref-flow from cooling towers into the Rhine river (unit A in the background)

• 

  Biblis Nuclear Power Plant is on the Rhine river. On the right side two cooling towers from unit A. In the background a ship landing place where heavy components such as reactor vessels and steam generators were landed by ship.

References

1. ^ "Zwei tickende Zeitbomben" (in German). Die Tageszeitung. 2010. http://www.taz.de/1/zukunft/umwelt/artikel/1/zwei-tickende-zeitbomben. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
2. ^ http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/mediablob/en/614918/data/594840/4/rwe/responsibility/cr-reports/CR-Key-Figures-2010.xls

External links

• Biblis Nuclear Power Plant, Unit B (drawing)
• Biblis power plant - A brief portrait (includes plant specifications), RWE Power, May 2004