Dismantling plant Gundremmingen

In 1976, construction started on the two 1,344-MW units B and C at Gundremmingen near Günzburg in Bavaria. Following an eight-year construction period, the two units went on stream in 1984 and generated some 20 billion kWh of climate-friendly electricity annually. This made the twin unit an important pillar of the energy supply system in southern Germany and it supplied around a quarter of the electricity generated in Bavaria. In line with the Atomic Energy Act, unit B was permanently decommissioned at the end of 2017 and unit B at the end of 2021. The licence for dismantling unit B according to the Atomic Energy Act was granted by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection in March 2019; the license for dismantling unit C in May 2021.Both units are now being dimantled. All dismantling measures are accompanied and supervised by independent expert witnesses together with the authorities.

RWE Nuclear GmbH employs around 430 people in Gundremmingen. In addition, there are jobs at partner companies who work onsite on a permanent basis – as well as at suppliers and service providers in the region.

Interim storage facility and technology centre since 2006

In addition to units B and C, an interim storage facility is located at the site where spent fuel elements are kept in CASTOR containers. It was commissioned in 2006 and has space for up to 192 containers. The storage facility was transferred to the Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagerung mbH (BGZ – an organisation for interim storage) on 1 January 2019, in line with The German Act on the Reorganisation of Responsibility in Nuclear Waste Management.

In 2006, the Gundremmingen Technology Centre in the former turbine house of the 250-megawatt unit Gundremmingen A (operational from 1966 to 1977) was approved by the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment. There, plant components that are removed from the power stations are being dismantled, cleaned and prepared for disposal.

Facts and figures