Police said Wednesday that 11 workers were injured in the fire during the demolition of a retired nuclear power plant in southern Germany.
The incident occurred at the Grafenrheinfeld plant in Bavaria, which was closed in 2015 under Germany’s phasing out nuclear power.
Police in nearby Schweinfurt said there was no dangerous substance or radioactive material during the fire on Wednesday, and the local population was not dangerous.
Operator Preussenelektra said that after the grinding work, a tent rose in the flame, causing “a small fire in the ventilation hose of the mobile air filter system”.
Firefighters put out the flames in minutes, but not before 11 workers were injured. Five of them were taken to the hospital, police said.
The operator added that federal nuclear regulators have been informed.
The Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant was commissioned in 1981.
After the Fukushima disaster in Japan, Germany decided to phase out nuclear power in 2011, the action ended in 2015.
Germany’s last nuclear reactor is closed in 2023.
Work to demolish the Grafenrheinfeld plant began in 2018, with the highly prominent cooling tower being successfully demolished in August 2024.
