11.12.2023
More than 1,400 CASTOR® casks from GNS have already been loaded with spent fuel and vitrified reprocessing waste from German nuclear power plants and reactors and are stored in on-site as well as centralized interim storage facilities. Before all German nuclear power plants are completely defueled, GNS will deliver around 150 more of the 100-plus tonne dual-purpose casks in the coming years and dispatch them with its own teams at the nuclear power plants.
The last order from a German power plant operator for a CASTOR® cask marks the end of an era in industrial history. In November PreussenElektra ordered its last cask from GNS - more than 40 years after the first seven CASTOR® casks were also ordered by PreussenElektra in 1980 for Würgassen NPP. This last CASTOR® order is dedicated for Grohnde NPP. The last CASTOR® deliveries to German power plants are expected for 2028.
"The last CASTOR® order for a German nuclear power plant is definitely a significant milestone for us," explains Daniel Oehr, CEO of GNS, "but it does not mean the end of our cask business by a long shot. Based on the experience we have built up over the decades and our sophisticated product range, we already have long-term orders from foreign power plant operators, for example from Switzerland and Belgium. At our Cask Manufacturing Center in Mülheim/Ruhr, the focus of production is already shifting increasingly to casks for foreign power plants and research reactors. In the last seven years alone, GNS has received orders for more than 120 CASTOR® casks from customers outside Germany. And we are working hard to win new customers from other countries for our safety ‘Made in Germany’."
Dr Guido Knott, Chairman of the Management Board of PreussenElektra GmbH, adds: "For decades, GNS's CASTOR® casks have been reliable packaging for our spent fuel elements beyond all doubt. They ensure quick defueling and thus clear the way for the decommissioning of our plants. But even after the last CASTOR® cask, we look forward to continuing to work with GNS, who are already supporting us during the further dismantling process."
To date, around 260 CASTOR® casks have already been loaded and stored at the five PreussenElektra sites. By the end of the decade, this figure is expected to rise to 328. And a total of more than 1,600 CASTOR® casks will be in safe interim storage in Germany in the on-site and the central interim storage facilities as well as in the interim storage facilities of research and federal institutions.
Photo: (Front) Daniel Oehr, CEO GNS, Dr. Guido Knott, CEO PreussenElektra, (back) Dr. Jens Schröder, CTO GNS, Georg Büth, CFO GNS, Dr. Linus Bettermann, Vertrieb & Marketing GNS