Nuclear phase-out: Nuclear power plants are finally shut down

With the Meiler Isar 2, the last nuclear power plant still in operation in Bavaria went offline. At 11:52 p.m., the connection to the network in the nuclear power plant in Essenbach, Lower Bavaria, was severed, as a spokeswoman for the operator Preussen-Elektra told the German Press Agency.

The reactor has since been shut down. A good hour earlier, the Emsland nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony had already been shut down.

The third remaining nuclear power plant Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg should also be taken off the grid by midnight, but initially there was no notification. This would then complete the German phase-out of nuclear power.

The dismantling of the Bavarian kiln is pending for Preussen-Elektra. The company has applied for approval for this from the supervisory authority, the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment. According to Preussen-Elektra chairman Guido Knott, it should be granted in the course of the year. Then the dismantling can begin.

Block Isar 1 was shut down in 2011 and has been in the process of being dismantled since 2017.

The reactors were actually supposed to be shut down at the end of last year. However, because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis, the traffic light coalition decided last year to let the reactors continue to run over the winter until mid-April.

The nuclear power plant in the 50,000-resident town of Lingen had a 1,400 megawatt block. The plant was put into operation in 1988. Since then, according to the operator RWE, the power plant has been producing around eleven billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually. The power was enough for 3.5 million households. About 350 people work in the power plant. The operator RWE expects the first dismantling phase to last 14 years.