en.Wedoany.com Reported - PreussenElektra has announced that all spent fuel assemblies from the storage pool at the German Grohnde nuclear power plant have been transferred to an on-site interim storage facility. 
The Grohnde nuclear power plant was shut down on December 31, 2021. PreussenElektra, a subsidiary of the E.On Group, applied for approval to dismantle the 1,360-megawatt pressurized water reactor in October 2017. In December 2023, the Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection issued the first decommissioning and dismantling permit for the Grohnde plant to PreussenElektra, and dismantling work began the following month.
To achieve a fuel-free state, a total of 694 fuel assemblies have been transferred from the plant's storage pool into CASTOR spent fuel storage casks since 2023. On April 7, the final CASTOR cask was successfully loaded, removed from the reactor building, and transferred to the Grohnde interim storage facility for spent fuel elements.
"This means the radioactive core of the nuclear power plant has been completely removed – and with it, more than 99% of the radioactive material," said PreussenElektra.
Plant Manager Jörg Bonemann stated, "The removal of the nuclear fuel is a major milestone in the decommissioning process of our power plant. It lays the foundation for further technical and organizational adjustments. We can now shut down and dismantle more systems and reduce staffing levels. Their valuable expertise is urgently needed elsewhere – for example, for dismantling the reactor pressure vessel internals, which is scheduled to begin at the end of this year."
PreussenElektra noted that to carry out the fuel transfer operations, various components and equipment parts first had to be removed from the emptied spent fuel pool area to create the necessary space for storage, handling, disassembly, and packaging. The newly built transport preparation hall is now in operation for receiving low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste generated during decommissioning. The Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection issued the necessary permit for storing radioactive waste and residues in early April.
The decommissioning of the Grohnde nuclear power plant is scheduled for completion in 2039, after which the site will be available for redevelopment. Currently, the site employs around 500 people.
PreussenElektra is responsible for decommissioning eight nuclear power plants in Germany. The Isar 2 nuclear power plant, the last of PreussenElektra's plants to cease operation, was shut down on April 15, 2023. The Brokdorf and Grohnde nuclear power plants were shut down on December 31, 2021. Including the previously decommissioned Isar 1, Stade, Unterweser, and Würgassen plants, all of PreussenElektra's nuclear facilities are now at various stages of decommissioning and dismantling. The company aims to dismantle all its nuclear power plants by 2040.
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