Block 1 of the Philippsburg nuclear power station to be shut down for maintenance and repair work
Karlsruhe. Block 1 of the Philippsburg nuclear power station (KKP 1) will be temporarily taken off the grid and shut down tonight by the operator, EnBW Kernkraft GmbH, for planned maintenance and repairs. During the stoppage, a leak in one system and in a fitting in the system's machinery room will be addressed. A number of different tests will also be carried out, such as on fittings in the turbine. The decisive aspect is EnBW's attitude towards safety that is mirrored in the principle "safety before profitability".
The supervisory authority, Baden-Württemberg's Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport, is informed about the shutdown.
Block I of the Philippsburg nuclear power station is a pressurised water reactor with an electrical output of 926 megawatts. The facility went into operation in 1979 and produced more than 6.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in the year 2010.