Unterweser nuclear power plant is a 1,410 MW nuclear power station in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is operated by PreussenElektra GmbH [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 3.2 million homes (estimated). It ranks #22 of 1,442 Germany power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1979, it is around 47 years old — long-established. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, nuclear supplies about 0.0% of Germany's electricity; the national grid averages 330 gCO₂/kWh (59.1% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GEM_nuc_unterweser_germa.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: Wikidata P2109; fuel: GEM GNPT
At 1,410 MW, Unterweser nuclear power plant is around the median nuclear plant in Germany (1,302 MW). Technically it is described as pressurized water reactor. Nuclear plants split uranium to raise steam with no direct CO₂; they run as steady baseload with very high capacity factors and the longest operating lifetimes of any thermal plant.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by PreussenElektra GmbH [100%].
This nuclear plant uses heat from nuclear fission to raise steam for a turbine-generator. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 53.4°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Climate zone & typical temperatures: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #8 largest nuclear power plant of 25 in Germany by capacity.
Germany has 25 nuclear power plants in this dataset, together about 26,511 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 53.4282, 8.4791 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Unterweser nuclear power plant is a 1,410 MW nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony, Germany, commissioned in 1979.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 3,176,125 homes (estimated).
Unterweser nuclear power plant is operated by PreussenElektra GmbH [100%].
