Stade

Nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...

plant (german: Kernkraftwerk Stade, KKS) operated from 1972 to 2003 in Bassenfleth close to the Schwinge river mouth into the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Rep ...

river. It was the first nuclear plant shut down after Germany's nuclear phase out legislation and is currently being decommissioned (Phase 2: Deconstruction of larger modules in the containment building). The station is on the left bank of the Elbe in Stadersand, a locality of

Stade Stade (), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (german: Hansestadt Stade, nds, Hansestadt Stood) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is l ...

, to the west of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

beside Schilling Power Station, which has also been shut down. It was a

light water reactor The light-water reactor (LWR) is a type of thermal-neutron reactor that uses normal water, as opposed to heavy water, as both its coolant and neutron moderator; furthermore a solid form of fissile elements is used as fuel. Thermal-neutron reac ...

History

The power plant was built by Siemens and went online on May 19, 1972 shortly after having reached the first criticality on January 8, 1972.Power Reactor Information System
der

IAEA The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...

„Germany, Federal Republic of: Nuclear Power Reactors“
(englisch) Between March, 1972 and November, 2003 the plant supplied electrical power of 662 MW (internal) / 630 MW (external), as well as 1,892 MW

thermal power A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy is converted to electrical energy. In a steam-generating cycle heat is used to boil water in a large pressure vessel to produce high-pressure steam, which drives a s ...

. Until September 7, 2005, the power plant ran in "post-operational" mode, and has been in "residual" mode since then. In 31 years of operation, 157

fuel elements Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission. Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile actinide elements that are capable of undergoing ...

were consumed, including, from December 15, 1988 onwards, fuel elements containing 4%

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weakly ...

. Starting in 1984, the nearby

saltern A saltern is an area or installation for making salt. Salterns include modern salt-making works (saltworks), as well as hypersaline waters that usually contain high concentrations of halophilic microorganisms, primarily haloarchaea but also o ...

was supplied with process steam. This was the first time a nuclear power station had supplied thermal energy. On Friday, November 14, 2003, at 8:32 a.m. the Stade nuclear power plant was shut down. E.ON, the company operating the plant at the time, cited economic reasons.

Decommissioning

The power plant was decommissioned in five phases, which were expected to be completed by 2015. * Phase 1: Decommissioning of machinery and parts not required for "residual" operation. Preparation of further steps and infrastructure. * Phase 2: Decommissioning of large components in the containment building * Phase 3: Decommissioning of the pressure containment building and the biological shield * Phase 4: Decommissioning of remaining contaminated parts. Verification of absence of contamination. End of government nuclear supervision. * Phase 5: Demolition of conventional structures. On April 27, 2005 the last fuel cells were removed from the plant. The Department of the Environment of Lower Saxony authorized the storage of weak nuclear waste until 2046.

Consequences

After shutdown of the Stade nuclear power plant, the operation of the nearby saltern has been shut down also. Meanwhile it is planned to construct a black coal power plant with almost the same power as the KKS. This requires extension of the harbour of Stade-Bützfleth with a coal terminal for 1.7 million t black coal.Hamburger Abendblatt (German) 12.12.2005, "Kohlekraftwerk nach Stade?", http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2005/12/12/512830.html

References

External links

Information brochure from Operator E.ON

Image:Nordwestansicht AKW Stade.jpg, The Stade NPP Image:Nordwestansicht mit Infrastruktur AKW Stade.jpg, Image:Einfahrt AKW Stade.jpg, Image:Betreten Verboten AKW Stade.jpg, Image:Stacheldraht AKW Stade.jpg, Image:Aerial_photograph_8407_DxO.jpg {{Authority control NuclearPowerPlant Stade NuclearPowerPlant Former nuclear power stations in Germany Vattenfall nuclear power stations Economy of Lower Saxony

History

Decommissioning

Consequences

See also

References

External links