The dismantling of the Isar nuclear power plant in Lower Bavaria is scheduled to be completed in spring 2040 as planned. Site manager Carsten Müller gave an insight into the work inside blocks 1 and 2 at an information event in Essenbach. Meanwhile, the operator PreussenElektra is already planning for the future. According to managing director Guido Knott, the options include battery storage, data centers or nuclear fusion.
Unit 2 of the Isar power plant was shut down in April 2023 as part of Germany's nuclear phase-out. In March 2024, the Ministry of the Environment issued the dismantling permit. By then, preparatory measures had taken place, such as the fuel rods being removed from the reactor pressure vessel and placed in the fuel element storage pool. The dismantling has now been going on for two and a half years.
Second dismantling permit issued
The second - and last - required dismantling permit for Isar 2 has been available since Thursday, Müller reported. This includes in particular the dismantling of the reactor pressure vessel and the biological shield surrounding it. The internals in the reactor pressure vessel in Unit 2 are currently being dismantled and preparations are being made for dismantling the steam generator.
In Block Isar 1 - which went offline in 2011 and has been under dismantling since 2017 - the storage and storage pool is being dismantled. In addition, with the imminent completion of work on the biological shield and the safety container, building decontamination is getting closer, explained Müller. As soon as this has taken place, conventional demolition can begin.
Create perspectives for employees
PreussenElektra boss Knott, who is retiring at the end of the year, sees one of the challenges in the question of personnel. The workforce is on average 50 years old. In a few years, the company will have too few skilled workers to be able to carry out the dismantling work. In addition, the field of activity will change. New opportunities for use after dismantling should be created, especially for younger employees.
Because, said Knott: “We’re not just closing a chapter, we’re opening a new one.” The first steps towards a future after the nuclear age have already been taken: Preparatory work for the FlexIsar battery storage system from PreussenElektra and Bayernwerk Natur recently began on the site next to the Isar power plant. The plant will have an output of 52 megawatts and a storage capacity of 121 megawatt hours and is scheduled to be put into operation at the end of 2027.
Separately, the Munich investment company Advisum is planning to build a data center with 100 megawatts and a battery storage facility with 900 megawatts of output on an area of five hectares in Essenbach's neighboring municipality of Niederaichbach.
Vision nuclear fusion
From Knott's point of view, nuclear fusion could also play a role at the Isar site in the future. He threw an AI-generated image on the wall of what a fusion campus at the location could look like. Physicist Cyril Stephanos from the German Academy of Engineering Sciences emphasized in a lecture that Germany could definitely play a leading role in the field of nuclear fusion with its research institutes, fusion companies and its industry. However, the first prototype of a fusion power plant is probably not expected before 2045.
