GKN Neckarwestheim, Unit 1, is a pressurized water reactor with an electric power output of 840 megawatts, which went online in 1976. GKN Neckarwestheim is special in that it produces two kinds of electricity: three-phase AC with 50 hertz for the public power grid and single-phase AC with a frequency of 16.7 hertz. Therefore, the plant has two generators and the single-phase AC generator is the largest of its kind in the world and the only one in the world driven by a nuclear power plant.

 

Nuclear power in Germany accounted for 17.7% of national electricity supply in 2011, compared to 22.4% in 2010. German nuclear power began with research reactors in the 1950s and 1960s with the first commercial plant coming online in 1969.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said the nuclear power phase-out, previously scheduled to go offline as late as 2036, would give Germany a competitive advantage in the renewable energy era