__NOTOC__
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
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...
s and unit B with a gross output of 1300 megawatts. Both units are
pressurized water reactor
A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) i ...
s. The operator of this power plant is the German
RWE Power AG
RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States. The company is Europe's most climate threatening Company, the world's number two in off ...
, an electrical utility based in
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Do ...
.
Unit A began operation on July 16, 1974 and entered commercial service on August 25, 1974; unit B reached
criticality on March 25, 1976. Both units now are shut down definitely for political reasons (Atomausstieg).
Biblis is the partner power station of the
Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant
Balakovo nuclear power station (russian: Балаковская АЭС, Balakovskaya AES []) is located in the city of Balakovo, Saratov Oblast, Russia, about south-east of Moscow. It consists of four operational reactors; a fifth unit is still ...
.
Closure
In March 2013, the administrative court for the German state of Hesse ruled that a three-month closure imposed by the government on the Biblis A and B reactors as an immediate response to the Fukushima accident was illegal. The state ministry of the environment acted illegally in March 2011, when an order was issued for the immediate closure of the Biblis units. RWE complied with the decree by shutting Biblis-A immediately, however as the plants were in compliance with the relevant safety requirements, the German government had no legal grounds for shutting them. The court ruled that the closure notice was illegal because RWE had not been given sufficient opportunity to respond to the order. Nevertheless, the units are now definitely shut down, based on the later political phaseout decision (Atomausstieg).
Incidents
On December 17, 1987 an incident (
INES 1) occurred: Operators overlooked a stop valve that had not been closed. In order to close the armature a valve was opened. The radioactive primary cooling water 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 potentially no feedback from the sump over the safety cooling pumps. The incident became public one year later, when an article in an American technical periodical (''Nucleonic Weeks'') was published.
There have been no other events higher than 0 on the
INES scale.
See also
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Anti-nuclear movement in Germany
The anti-nuclear movement in Germany has a long history dating back to the early 1970s when large demonstrations prevented the construction of a nuclear plant at Wyhl. The Wyhl protests were an example of a local community challenging the nucl ...
*
Nuclear power in Germany
Nuclear power in Germany accounted for 13.3% of German electricity supply in 2021, generated by six power plants, of which three were switched off at the end of 2021, the other three due to cease operation at the end of 2022 according to the co ...
*
Vulnerability of nuclear plants to attack
The vulnerability of nuclear plants to deliberate attack is of concern in the area of nuclear safety and security. Nuclear power plants, civilian research reactors, certain naval fuel facilities, uranium enrichment plants, fuel fabrication plants, ...
Images
Image:2011.03.26_001.JPG, Biblis Nuclear Power Plant (Germany), block A (right) - block B (left)
Image:AKW_Biblis_03.jpg, Security measures on South site
Image:AKW_Biblis_04.jpg, Ref-flow from cooling towers into the Rhine river (unit A in the background)
Image:AKW_Biblis_06.jpg, 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
{{Authority control
Former nuclear power stations in Germany
RWE
1969 establishments in West Germany
Economy of Hesse