The French government has approved the dismantling of the shuttered Fessenheim NPP located in Haut-Rhin near the German border, after a decree authorising EDF to proceed was published in the official gazette.
Fessenheim, France’s oldest NPP, located south of the German city of Freiburg, was shut down in 2020 after 42 years of operation, following years of pressure from anti-nuclear activists on both sides of the border.
The Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant consisted of two identical 880 MWe (net) pressurised water reactors (PWRs) based on the CP0 (Contrat Programme 0) design, a standardised French reactor model developed in the 1970s.
The removal of all fuel elements was completed in September 2022. EDF said it aims to begin work shortly on the project, which will be carried out in four phases, adding that preparatory work had largely been completed.
The decree, signed on 1 May by the Prime Minister, the Minister of the Economy and the Minister for Energy, defines the operations to be carried out. Dismantling concerns “the entire installation”, in particular the “nuclear island” comprising the reactor buildings of the two units. The conventional island, with the pumping station, spent steam generator storage and effluent tanks, are also specified.
The operation will take place in four stages: actual dismantling; sanitation of structures and floors; demolition of buildings down to at least one metre deep; then rehabilitation of the site. Discharges of gaseous, liquid and radioactive effluents, in particular during emptying of the used fuel pool, will be subject to controls. The deadline for completion is 30 June 2048. Key tasks in the first year of dismantling include removing three steam generators from reactor 1 and dismantling storage racks used for spent fuel, EDF said.
The decree followed a favourable opinion issued in January by the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority (ASNR – L’Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire et de Radioprotection. In this context, EDF plans to reconvert part of the site into a low-radioactive metal recycling plant, the opening of which is planned for 2031.
The company also plans to build a melting facility for low-level radioactive scrap at the site from 2027. The plant could process up to 500,000 tonnes of metal from across France, including components from nuclear reactors. The so-called Technocentre is expected to create around 200 jobs and begin operations in 2031, with investment estimated at about €450m ($528m).
