In Germany on Saturday, October 25, two 160-meter cooling towers of the former Gundremmingen nuclear power plant were blown up. This occurred according to plan nearly four years after the last nuclear reactor of this power plant was shut down, reports tagesschau.
Once, Gundremmingen produced 20 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year (about a quarter of the electricity generated in Bavaria) and was one of the largest nuclear power plants in Germany.
The demolition of the cooling towers is part of the planned dismantling of the nuclear power plant. Complete dismantling is expected to last until the 2030s.
The cooling towers were built between 1977 and 1980. The top edge of the towers had a diameter of nearly 129 meters and was constructed from 56,000 tons of reinforced concrete. They were previously used to cool water heated during electricity generation before it was discharged back into the Danube.
Germany made a political decision to gradually phase out nuclear energy generation back in 2000. At that time, there were 19 nuclear power plants operating in the country. In 2011, after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, it was decided to complete this process by the end of 2022.
The last three nuclear power plants in Germany were shut down in April 2023.
