The oldest Nuclear power plant France In the Alsatian town of Fessenheim it is finally switched off. According to the operator EDF, the second pressurized water reactor is to be shut down late Monday evening from around 11:30 p.m. The decommissioning of the power plant should end on Tuesday morning. The first reactor block of the power plant on the Rhine that had been producing electricity since the end of 1977 had already been taken off the grid at the end of February.
–
The power plant on the border with Baden-Württemberg has been a security risk for decades. Opponents of nuclear power in Germany and Switzerland had long been unsuccessful in shutting down the two reactors. Both countries were concerned about frequent accidents and the earthquake risk on the Upper Rhine. The shutdown was originally planned for the end of 2016, the then head of state Francois Hollande but did not keep his promise.
–
German politicians and environmental activists welcomed the decommissioning. The zenith of nuclear power has long been passed, said Environment Secretary Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter (SPD). The shutdown of the nuclear power plant in Fessenheim also made Germany and Switzerland safer. There was only one reactor last week been shut down unplanned.
–
Battery recycling and rail connections
The region around the municipality of Fessenheim in the Haut-Rhin department in southern Alsace is now to become a green, cross-border showcase project. Projects for sustainable energy generation are planned in a German-French innovation park. Hydrogen production, battery recycling and many other projects were on the table, said Brigitte Klinkert, President of the responsible departmental council.
The Freiburg President Bärbel Schäfer relies on the planned direct rail link over a new Rhine bridge between Freiburg and Colmar as an impulse for the border region. The railway will bring economic power, said Schäfer.
–
Decades will pass before the site of the nuclear power plant can be used. According to the operator, five years are planned for the preparations for dismantling, and the dismantling itself takes another 15 years.
–
