The environment ministry in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz has issued the first permit to start decommissioning of the Mülheim-Kärlich nuclear power plant. Germany’s federal environment ministry, the BMU, said the permit was issued on 16th July.
German utility RWE announced plans to decommission the non-operational Mülheim-Kärlich plant in 2000 as part of a restructuring of the group [see Business News No. 112.1, 12th October 2000].
In 2001, an agreement between the anti-nuclear German government and the country’s main energy companies – to limit the operating lifetimes of the country’s existing nuclear plants – provided for RWE to transfer lifetime production rights totalling 107.25 terawatt hours from Mülheim-Kärlich to other nuclear units [see News No. 191, 12th June 2001].
