In order to expand the scientific and technical programme, the Faculty of Energy organized a visit to the nuclear power plant Biblis on 10 May 2016 for UDE master students.About 40 participants took the opportunity to look at "where you don't get in every day."

The Biblis power plant is located 13 kilometres northeast of the city of Worms on the Hessian side of the Rhine. The plant comprises two power plant units, so-called pressurised water reactors, with an electrical output of 2,394 megawatts. Operator is RWE. With the 2011 moratorium, both blocks were switched off and transferred to the post-operational phase.

At the beginning of the excursion, there was a brief introduction to the operation of the nuclear power plant, the planned phase-out of the nuclear power plant and the question of the security of supply in Germany.

The light water pressure reactor in Biblis is cooled with water from the Rhine, which flows directly next door. 60,000 litres of water per second are diverted, used for cooling, and then returned to the Rhine at a temperature of 10° C warmer.

Under strong security precautions the students were led over the area. Mobile phones and cameras are not allowed in the system.

Block B of the plant was inspected. The control area, the control room and the power house were visible. The most impressive was the fuel pool. In this facility, the fuel assemblies stored there since 2011 will have to decay for another 3 years before they will be transferred to the site interim storage facility, which will be packed in castors. They will remain there until a German repository has been set up, presumably until the nuclear power plant has long since disappeared.

The excursion met with a very positive response from all participants.