The two 143-metre-high cooling towers at Germany’s former Grafenrheinfeld NPP in the southern state of Bavaria have been blown up as part of the decommissioning process, resulting in 55,000 tonnes of concrete and steel debris. The demolition took 30 seconds.

Construction of the single unit Grafenrheinfeld NPP (KKG – Kernkraftwerk Grafenrheinfeld), Germany’s oldest NPP, began in 1975. The 1,275 MWe (net) pressurised water reactor, operated from 1982 to 2015. It was closed in line with Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power, taken in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan. Germany closed eight units immediately: EnBW’s Phillipsburg 1 and Neckarwestheim 1; E.ONs Isar 1 and Unterweser; RWE’s Biblis A & B and Vattenfall’s Brunsbüttel and Krümmel. E.On’s Grafenrheinfeld lost its authorisation for power operation and was finally shut down in June 2015. It was subsequently transferred to PreussenElektra for decommissioning and dismantling.

Under the first permit, granted in 2018, fuel elements were removed as well as 12,100 components and around 3,100 tonnes of material were dismantled, cleaned and treated. The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) internals were also removed. The second permit, granted in December 2022, covered the dismantling of the RPV and the biological shield surrounding it.

The cooling towers were blown up as a visible sign that dismantling was progressing and also because PreussenElektra needs the area to store dismantled components. Project leader for the demolition, Matthias Aron, said the concrete rubble would be used to fill the two collecting basins below the towers. In the time that Grafenrheinfeld was operational, the plant provided more than 11% of Bavaria’s energy.