Powerhouse for change EWN group

POWERHOUSE FOR CHANGE

The EWN group of Germany deals with the decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear facilities. The EWN group is comprised of three autonomous companies; EWN Greifswald and Rheinsberg, WAK Karlruhe and AVR Julich. As the global demand for energy increases, the company has geared up to meet the new challenges ahead.

The long-term interim storage area for the dismantled reactor sections at Sayda Bay

The EWN group is wholly owned by the German Federal Ministry of Finance and is a world leader in the decommissioning, dismantling and disposal of nuclear plants both at home and abroad. In addition to its key decommissioning and dismantling activities, EWN is responsible for the interim storage of spent fuel elements and the disposal of the resulting radioactive waste.

Due to the company’s in-depth experience in dealing with complex nuclear decommissioning issues and its technical expertise, EWN is at the forefront of technology in its sector and attracts a diverse range of nuclear decommissioning contracts. For example, as a result of the negotiations between the G8 States in Canada in 2003, EWN was commissioned by the federal ministry of economics and technology to undertake the disposal of Russia’s aging fleet of nuclear submarines. Under the leadership of EWN a long-term storage area for the reactor sections of the submarines was established. After the first part of the facility near Murmansk had been commissioned in 2006, it was completed on 1 September 2011. The project in the Saida Bay continues – close to the storage area a disposal centre with storage and conditioning facilities similar to the ones at EWN is going to be built.

In addition to this, the company is currently working on the decommissioning of nuclear plants at key sites throughout eastern Europe, from Bulgaria to Slovakia.

New centre of energy and technology

EWN currently operates from its two sites in Germany, the largest of which is in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, where the company is dismantling and decommissioning the nuclear power plants near Greifswald and at Rheinsberg/Brandenburg.

“The dismantling is going according to plan, and the main project activities are planned to be completed in 2014/15”, says Henry Cordes, CEO of EWN since 2011. “The last steam generators from unit 3 will be removed in 2013.”

EWN stores nuclear fuel waste in Castor casks at its Interim Storage Facility North (ISN) in Greifswald before it is taken to a federal final storage site for heat developing radioactive waste in the long term. All other radioactive material is kept at the ISN site until it is taken to the federal final storage facility for waste with negligible heat development (Konrad repository), or taken to the scrap dealer after decontamination and exemption by the authorities.

In 2008 EnBW, owner of the Obrigheim nuclear power plant in Baden-Württemberg decided to commission EWN for the treatment and conditioning of their steam

Steam generator from Obrigheim at the industrial harbour

Cutting by wire saw Castor® casks in the ISN

generators. Two of these huge components were delivered by ship to the new industrial harbour at the EWN site in 2008. They were once exchanged during maintenance and repair works and are now stored in the ISN. This summer the two steam generators that had been in operation until the shut down of Obrigheim NPP were also delivered by ship. One of them is now treated in EWN’s warm workshop; meanwhile the other one is being cut on the huge bandsaw in the ISN.

In 2009, EWN was additionally commissioned with the dismantling of the reactor of the Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant. The project team that has already dismantled the reactors of the Greifswald NPP will cut and pack the reactor pressure vessel and the internal reactor components remotely. Completion of the project is planned for 2015.

Sites that have been dismantled are now used by new companies in different industries, for example EEW Group, a manufacturer of pipes and piping for components, or Danish company Bladt Industries, a major steel contractor. Both produce components for offshore wind farms. In the cleared turbine hall of the old power plant, the company Liebherr began in 2007 the production of huge maritime cranes.

The site offers investors high-tech facilities and buildings for lease or for sale. All necessary infrastructures already exist with good road and rail connections as well as an industrial harbour. In addition there is a direct connection to the ‘switchyard’ and to the high voltage system operated by the company 50 Hertz Transmission.

The enterprise Nord Stream built the gas pipeline from Germany to Russia through the Baltic Sea and Wingas established the gas transfer station at the site. The company is also constructing two more pipelines connecting the Nord Stream with the European

Treatment of steam generator in EWN’s warm workshop

gas pipeline network. The commissioning of the first part of the Nord Stream was celebrated on 8 November 2011 and the second part is also in operation now. Thus, the site offers the best conditions for investors planning the construction of conventional gas-powered plants in Germany.

In 2011, following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, the German federal government dramatically changed its attitude towards nuclear energy. A previously announced life span extension for nuclear reactors was suspended, and it was decided that all nuclear power stations have to be shut down in a step-by-step programme. This means potential new fields of activities for EWN Group.

”We plan to establish a centre of competence in nuclear decommissioning, dismantling and disposal especially for state-owned facilities,” says Henry Cordes.

Generating new international projects

EWN has an enviable record when it comes to meeting deadlines and completion dates. As a result, it is often selected for the role of project manager on EU or EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) financed programmes for NPPs (Nuclear Power Plants) in eastern Europe. The company has already managed projects in the Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania.

In the Ukraine for example EWN was selected in 2009 as the project manager for the development of DISS (the Decommissioning Information Support System). With this project the company will provide IT solutions, which were used to support the decommissioning management programme of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

In Bulgaria, at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant (KNPP) EWN started a new project in September 2011 – the environmental impact assessment for the plasma melting facility that the KNPP wants to build during the next years.

In another example of EWN’s expertise being put to work in eastern Europe, the company was selected to support the decommissioning of Slovakia nuclear plant at Bohunice. The project started in 2008 and was completed this year. n

Industrial harbour with marina and gas transfer station in the background