Kerntechnische Entsorgung Karlsruhe

Kerntechnische Entsorgung Karlsruhe GmbH (KTE) is a German nuclear decommissioning and waste-management company based in Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, about ten kilometres north of Karlsruhe, at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Campus North. Its sole shareholder is the federally owned EWN Entsorgungswerk für Nuklearanlagen GmbH, making KTE part of the EWN group. The company employs roughly 700 people and is financed predominantly by the German Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space and by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism of the state of Baden-Württemberg. KTE is responsible for dismantling all shut-down nuclear facilities at the Karlsruhe/KIT Campus North site, and for all associated radioactive-waste disposal tasks. These facilities were built mainly in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s for nuclear basic research and applied development, and include laboratory installations, research and prototype reactors of various lines, and a reprocessing plant developed to advance nuclear fuel utilisation. The site also hosted projects such as the examination of irradiated nuclear fuel in hot cells. The company's core competencies are the dismantling of nuclear installations, waste treatment and interim storage. Among KTE's major projects are the dismantling of the Wiederaufarbeitungsanlage Karlsruhe (WAK), the Mehrzweckforschungsreaktor (MZFR), the Kompakte Natriumgekühlte Kernreaktoranlage (KNK), the Heiße Zellen (hot cells) and the Forschungsreaktor 2 (FR 2). At the site KTE operates what is currently Germany's largest interim storage facility for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste. Once all facilities transferred to KTE have been dismantled, the remaining task is the complete processing of the resulting radioactive residues into repository-ready waste packages and their interim storage; the stored packages are to be delivered to the Konrad repository once it is completed. On current estimates, KTE's core tasks will end in the late 2060s. Beyond its core mission, KTE offers disposal services to third parties within its free capacities at a high technical level in the nuclear field. The company states that it aims to further improve its high standards in safety and environmental protection, occupational health and safety, quality and energy efficiency, guided by the fundamental values of its corporate policy. It publishes an annual Public Corporate Governance Report, continuing a series that dates back to its predecessor WAK GmbH. The company's history reaches back to 1964, when several chemical and nuclear industry firms founded the Gesellschaft zur Wiederaufarbeitung von Kernbrennstoffen. That company planned, built and operated the Karlsruhe reprocessing plant (WAK) on behalf of the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre; the pilot plant operated from 1971 to 1990. The legal entity was later renamed Wiederaufarbeitungsanlage Karlsruhe Rückbau- und Entsorgungsgesellschaft mbH (WAK GmbH) and, on 7 February 2017, became Kerntechnische Entsorgung Karlsruhe GmbH. Since 2006 the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the federal EWN Entsorgungswerk für Nuklearanlagen GmbH.

The origins of Kerntechnische Entsorgung Karlsruhe GmbH lie in the German ambition, pursued until the late 1980s, to build a commercial reprocessing plant to close the nuclear fuel cycle. As a preliminary step towards an industrial facility, a pilot plant was built at Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen near Karlsruhe, where the main process steps were to be tested and optimised. For this purpose, several companies from the chemical and nuclear industries founded the Gesellschaft zur Wiederaufarbeitung von Kernbrennstoffen in 1964. On behalf of the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre, this company took charge of planning, constructing and operating the Karlsruhe reprocessing plant (WAK), which entered service in 1971. The plant had a capacity of 35 tonnes per year, operating 200 days per year, with enrichment of up to 3% equivalent 235U. Fuel elements were dissolved by the Chop-leach process, while uranium/plutonium separation was carried out by the two-cycle PUREX process with 30% tributyl phosphate in n-dodecane. Between commissioning and the end of dissolution operations in 1990, 208 tonnes of irradiated nuclear fuel were processed and more than one tonne of plutonium was separated. The total plutonium separated at WAK corresponded, at 70% fissile content, to the energy content of 1.5 million tonnes of hard coal. In 1990, almost simultaneously with the abandonment of the Wackersdorf reprocessing plant project, WAK was finally shut down. The storage facility was expanded in 1996 and 2003. In early August 2016, construction began on two further storage buildings, which were to be completed by 2020. Since 2006, WAK has been a 100% subsidiary of the federally owned EWN Entsorgungswerk für Nuklearanlagen GmbH. On 7 February 2017, the legal entity then known as Wiederaufarbeitungsanlage Karlsruhe Rückbau- und Entsorgungsgesellschaft mbH (WAK GmbH) was renamed Kerntechnische Entsorgung Karlsruhe GmbH. The company's earlier names included Gesellschaft zur Wiederaufarbeitung von Kernbrennstoffen mit beschränkter Haftung and Wiederaufbereitungsanlage Karlsruhe Betriebsgesellschaft mbH. Dismantling has been a central task. The roughly 60 m³ of highly active liquid nuclear waste produced during 19 years of operation, with an activity of 700 petabecquerels, had been continuously cooled at 25 °C in stainless steel tanks. It had to be incorporated into glass for on-site storage. For this purpose the Karlsruhe vitrification plant (VEK) was built on the Karlsruhe site between 1999 and 2005. Commissioning began in 2005 and, from April 2007, the plant operated in cold trial mode. Vitrification of the waste, which began on 16 September 2009, was completed at the end of 2010. The goal was to dismantle WAK and return the site to a "green meadow" by 2023. To finance the dismantling, DWK and the German federal government each set aside €0.5 billion, which had been used by the end of 2005. The total cost of shutdown and dismantling was estimated by the operator at €2.6 billion (in 2007). Responsibility for continuing dismantling now lies with the German federal government and the state of Baden-Württemberg, with DWK contributing to some extent to waste treatment costs. Today KTE is responsible for dismantling all shut-down nuclear facilities at the Karlsruhe/KIT Campus North site and for all associated radioactive-waste disposal. The facilities were created mainly in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s for nuclear basic research and applied development, and include laboratory installations, research and prototype reactors of various lines, and a reprocessing plant. The company employs about 700 people and is financed predominantly by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space and by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism. At the site it operates what is currently Germany's largest interim storage facility for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste; the stored waste packages are to be delivered to the Konrad repository once it is completed. On current estimates, KTE's core tasks will end in the late 2060s.

• 2017

  On 7 February, WAK GmbH is renamed Kerntechnische Entsorgung Karlsruhe GmbH.

• 2016

  In early August, construction begins on two further storage buildings, to be completed by 2020.

• 2010

  Vitrification of the waste is completed at the end of the year.

• 2009

  Vitrification of the highly active liquid waste begins on 16 September.

• 2007

  From April, the vitrification plant operates in cold trial mode; the operator estimates total shutdown and dismantling costs at €2.6 billion.

• 2006

  WAK becomes a 100% subsidiary of the federally owned EWN Entsorgungswerk für Nuklearanlagen GmbH.

• 2005

  Commissioning of the Karlsruhe vitrification plant (VEK) begins; DWK and the German federal government had each set aside €0.5 billion for dismantling.

• 2003

  The storage facility is expanded again.

• 1996

  The storage facility is expanded.

• 1990

  WAK is shut down, almost simultaneously with the abandonment of the Wackersdorf reprocessing plant project; 208 tonnes of irradiated fuel had been processed and more than one tonne of plutonium separated.

• 1971

  The Karlsruhe reprocessing plant (WAK) enters service.

• 1964

  Several chemical and nuclear industry companies found the Gesellschaft zur Wiederaufarbeitung von Kernbrennstoffen, which plans, builds and operates the Karlsruhe reprocessing plant (WAK).

State-owned specialist for the decommissioning and disposal of shut-down nuclear research and prototype facilities at the Karlsruhe site, operating Germany's largest interim storage facility for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste.

• Dismantling of the Wiederaufarbeitungsanlage Karlsruhe (WAK)

• Dismantling of the Mehrzweckforschungsreaktor (MZFR)

• Dismantling of the Kompakte Natriumgekühlte Kernreaktoranlage (KNK)

• Dismantling of the Heiße Zellen (hot cells)

• Dismantling of the Forschungsreaktor 2 (FR 2)

• Interim storage of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste

• Radioactive waste treatment and conditioning into repository-ready packages

• Disposal services for third parties

1. 1Startseitekte-karlsruhe.de
2. 2Über unskte-karlsruhe.de
3. 3Corporate Governancekte-karlsruhe.de
4. 4Kerntechnische Entsorgung Karlsruhewikidata.org
5. 5Kerntechnische Entsorgung Karlsruhefr.wikipedia.org