Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant: Unit 1 Online again after Maintenance

Karlsruhe. After the completion of annual maintenance, Unit 1 of the Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant (KKP 1) has been online again since the weekend. During the past few weeks, testing and maintenance activities have been conducted and 72 of the 592 fuel elements have been replaced.

Roman Zofka, Unit 1 director, is very pleased with the process of the maintenance: “We were able to implement our work plan successfully.” Among other things, the work carried out includes the inspection of the wetwell, the reheater pressure inspection and maintenance on one of the two low pressure turbines. Other projects included working on the feed water distribution boxes in the reactor pressure vessel, replacing condenser tubes as well as construction and servicing work on the cooling water intake.

“Our whole team did a great job. I don’t just mean our own employees, but also the more than 1,200 staff of manufacturing and specialist companies who supported us within the scope of the maintenance”, is how Roman Zofka sums it up. The maintenance involved the completion of a total of approximately 6,500 individual activities. “Our financial expenses for the maintenance are in the tens of millions. By doing so, we are ensuring the continued safe, reliable and climate-friendly electricity generation of the plant”, adds Zofka.

The maintenance work was monitored by the Technical Inspection Authority (TÜV), which acts as an assessor for the Baden-Württemberg Environment Ministry, the KeTAG (Baden-Württemberg Nuclear Power Assessment Consortium) and the MPA (State Material Testing Institute, Stuttgart). After the work had been approved, the Baden-Württemberg Environment Ministry issued its consent for the plant to be restarted.

Unit 1 of the Philippsburg Nuclear Power plant is a boiling water reactor with an electrical output of 926 megawatts. The plant was commissioned in 1979 and it generated more than six billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2005.