"I can't promise it will work." With these words Professor Erich Bagge opened the first research reactor in northern Germany on October 28, 1958 in Geesthacht-Tesperhude - and thus the largest nuclear reactor in the Federal Republic to date. Above all, the reactor is intended to be used to construct a nuclear propulsion system for ships in order to build non-military "nuclear ships", as they were popularly known.
800 guests from ministries, universities, business and even the USSR traveled to Geesthacht on the Lower Elbe to attend the ceremonial opening of the reactor. The "Federal Minister for Nuclear Questions", Siegfried Balke, gives a speech. Finally, Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Kai-Uwe von Hassel presses the start button to start the reactor.
The nuclear chain reaction is on
The inside of the reactor starts ticking. The guests follow the knocking of the neutrons, which escape the uranium atoms and split other atomic nuclei themselves, over loudspeakers - the nuclear chain reaction is running. Those present give thunderous applause.
It took about three years to build the "FRG-1" research reactor - a concrete block nine meters high and costing nine and a half million marks. In order to speed up the construction, parts of the reactor were bought in the USA.
With an output of up to five megawatts, "FRG-1" is the largest research reactor in the country. Its power is a hundred times greater than that of the reactors in Frankfurt or Berlin, where nuclear plants are also built, Erich Bagge proudly explained in an NDR interview in 1958.
Nuclear energy - the bright future?
In the 1950s, nuclear energy was still considered a technology with a great future. "Nuclear propulsion" is an important topic worldwide. Whether for ships, submarines, spacecraft or even locomotives:numerous researchers are working to develop nuclear-powered vehicles. The USSR and the USA are leaders here. In Germany in 1956 the "Gesellschaft für Kernenergieverwertung in Schiffbau und Schiffahrt mbH" (GKSS) was founded. It establishes a research center in Geesthacht. There, in the midst of the bunker debris of the former Krümmel dynamite factory, the researchers want to develop ships powered by nuclear energy. The founding fathers of the GKSS include Kurt Diebner and the Kiel professor Erich Bagge. Both had already worked unsuccessfully to build the atomic bomb for Hitler.
1964:First German nuclear ship is launched
Instead of a conventional engine, the "Otto Hahn" gets a nuclear reactor. But the installation is complicated and takes four years.But it will be many years before the first German nuclear ship sets sail. In 1960, the GKSS put out a tender for the construction of a nuclear-powered commercial and research ship. The Kieler Howaldtswerke are awarded the contract. In 1964 the nuclear freighter "Otto Hahn" was launched in Kiel - as a mere hull, without the nuclear drive. The "Otto Hahn" is named after the well-known nuclear chemist and Nobel Prize winner. He is personally present at the launch.
Another four years will pass before the nuclear pressurized water reactor is installed in a concrete space between the bridge and the aft deck. It was not until 1968 that the "Otto Hahn" set sail for the first time with a crew of 63, including a single woman. After the Soviet icebreaker "Lenin" and the American "Savannah", the "Otto Hahn" is the third civil nuclear ship in the world. It is considered a symbol of a "bright" future.
"Otto Hahn" calls at 33 ports worldwide
At the end of the 1960s, the "Otto Hahn" was also a guest in the port of Hamburg.In the years that followed, the freighter covered almost 650,000 nautical miles, transporting grain, phosphates and ores. The "Otto Hahn" calls at 33 ports, mainly in South America and Africa - many only once due to a special permit. A passage through the Suez or the Panama Canal is always denied to the nuclear ship. In 1979 it is decommissioned - it has been shown that the operation of nuclear-powered ships is not economically viable. The reactor is expanded in the port of Hamburg, the ship is rebuilt and equipped with a diesel engine. It will operate as a conventional freighter until 2009. Only Russia continues to rely on nuclear ships:several Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers are still in use today.
The reactor of the "Otto Hahn" is brought back to the GKSS research center in Geesthacht and used further for research purposes. On June 28, 2010 it will be switched off for good. It is still in Geesthacht today, but is scheduled to be dismantled by 2030. The fuel elements were taken to a French processing center in 2010 and from there to the interim storage facility in Lubmin.
Did the GKSS also have military purposes?
Whether the GKSS really only had the civil use of nuclear energy in mind in its initial phase is doubted today. Journalist and nuclear energy expert Paul Reimar argues that the GKSS also built equipment that could test how much weapon-grade plutonium a fuel element contained. In addition, the defense minister at the time, Franz Josef Strauss, advocated building submarines with nuclear propulsion. According to Reimar, the nuclear propulsion system of the "Otto Hahn" was unusually small for a cargo ship and dimensioned in such a way that it would have fitted into a submarine.
GKSS becomes Helmholtz Center
Materials are now being developed in the former research facility in Geesthacht.It is disputed whether the accumulation of leukemia diseases in the Elbmarsch has anything to do with the activities of the GKSS. There is regular speculation about a nuclear accident at the GKSS research center in 1986. But there is no concrete evidence. It is more likely that the illnesses are due to the Krümmel nuclear power plant, which was put into operation in 1983 near the GKSS research center. Since autumn 2010, the GKSS has operated under the name Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht. The focus is on coastal protection and the development of lighter and more environmentally friendly materials.