DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - On Friday, the Düsseldorf Regional Court will hear the question of who will bear the costs for the demolition of the decommissioned nuclear power plant in Hamm-Uentrop. The reason for the hearing is a so-called declaratory action brought by the operating company Hochtemperatur-Kernkraftwerk GmbH (HKG).

According to the regional court, the company, which is backed by the energy group RWE and a number of municipal utilities, is demanding that the federal and state governments assume the costs of dismantling the plant. They should also take over the disposal and final storage of the radioactive material. HKG filed the lawsuit against the federal government and the state of NRW in February (Ref.: 10 O 59/23).

The THTR high-temperature reactor was intended to be the future of nuclear energy supply. After 15 years of construction, the nuclear power plant was inaugurated in 1983 and shut down again six years later following countless problems. Dismantling of the power plant is due to begin at the end of 2030. Ten years are planned for this.

Ministry: no compromise found beforehand

No compromise could be found in negotiations regarding the assumption of costs, the Ministry of Finance announced on request. "The shareholders and the federal government took completely opposing positions in the negotiations." The power plant operating company has filed a lawsuit because there is no secure financial basis for the future. The Düsseldorf Regional Court will now decide who has to pay.

As a court spokeswoman emphasizes, the civil dispute is only about liability issues, not sums of money. A decision is not expected for several weeks.

Originally, 350 million euros were earmarked for the dismantling of the pebble bed reactor. Three years ago, the NRW state government named total costs of over 750 million euros at the request of the Greens./hom/DP/jha