Stendal nuclear power plant
The Nuclear power station Stendal (German: Kernkraftwerk Stendal) was a nuclear power station under construction in East Germany, near the city Arneburg, Stendal in the district at that time Magdeburg, today Saxony-Anhalt.
It was planned to become the largest nuclear power station of East Germany - also the largest nuclear power station in all of Germany. However, after German reunification, the safety of the Soviet design was under question, and all plans for operation and further construction were completely halted.[1]
Altogether, it was planned to house 4 reactors at the site of the VVER-1000/320 type, which were some of the most modern and largest units of its time (1000 MWe). Construction of unit 1 and 2 began in 1983 and units 3 and 4 remained in planning. Unit 1 was about 85% finished and unit 2 was about 15% finished.
The aboveground connecting building between all units has largely torn off and been weathered down. The emergency diesel generators for unit 1, however, were completed entirely and still stand almost completely intact.
It was planned to have two cooling towers per reactor, as was typical with such Soviet designs. The turbine house was connected to the reactor buildings and each reactor had its own turbine and cooling towers in the designs. Several operating plants today have such a design, notably the Temelin Nuclear Power Plant in the Czech Republic.
A new innovation for the Stendal plant was that the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) plans were modified heavily by the company Magdeburg in connection with the Muscovite planning office. It was to be constructed with a new steel cell composite technique, which differed from other similar plants. This RPV was actually produced, but then was divided and scrapped in 1990/1991 in the course of the deconstructing of the site.
Through the German reunification, the construction was stopped and the three completed cooling towers were demolished in 1994 and 1999 with explosive charges.
The area is an industrial estate today.
See also
- Nuclear plants built in the former East Germany