On 19 April, 2002, the Krümmel nuclear power plant had to be closed down because of increased radioactivity in the primary circuit, this increase stems from defective fuel rods.
It is planned to extract a number of fuel elements during the next outage for inspection. Originally, this work was due to be done during August, but this would have led to an increased level of radioactive contamination which would result in an increased radiation dose of the staff.
