Grohnde interim storage facility

The Grohnde interim storage facility is located to the north of Grohnde on the River Weser in the Municipality of Emmerthal in the Lower Saxony District of Hameln-Pyrmont. The interim storage facility for spent fuel elements went into operation with the emplacement of the first CASTOR V/19 type cask on 27 April 2006. The licence under the Atomic Energy Act for the storage of nuclear fuels in the Grohnde interim storage facility expires 40 years after emplacement of the first cask. BGZ has been responsible for operating the Grohnde interim storage facility since 1 January 2019.

The interim storage facility is situated within the confines of the Grohnde nuclear power plant site and covers an area of approximately 0.28 hectares of the site’s total 35 hectares. This means that CASTOR casks only need to be moved a short distance from the reactor building to the interim storage facility and that no public roads need to be used. The interim storage is accessed via the nuclear power plant’s security zone.

The reception and storage areas, as well as parts of the operating area, are located in the interim storage facility storage building. The storage building is 93 metres long, 27 metres wide and 23 metres high. The storage area covers a total area of approximately 1,650 m². Around 950 m² of this area are actually used for storage purposes.

100 casks can be stored in 20 rows, each with 5 spaces.