In 1994, German engineer Willy Marth penned a 191-page history of a small 20 MWe breeder reactor at the Karlsruhe laboratory south of Strasbourg near the French border. This is now one of history’s almost forgotten footnotes. In my research, I came upon a number of such “obituaries,” all tinged with a sadness you can sense from Marth’s early words:
In memoriam: INTERATOM
Marth, Willy. 1994a. The History of the Construction and Operations of the German KNK II Fast Breeder Power Plant. Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH. Accessed May 31, 2023, p. 17.
As this report about KNK is being written, Interatom has ceased to exist:
In October 1991, after the politically motivated termination of the Kalkar project, Interatom GmbH became an integral part of KWU, the power generation division of SIEMENS AG. The name INTERATOM, under which the company had been known as a reactor vendor and famous breeder firm, ceased to exist. With its name, the company had also lost its identity. But, for the time being, Bergisch Gladbach, formerly called Bensberg, was to remain an independent location besides Erlangen and Offenbach.
This concept was given up in a decree by Siemens on March 30, 199311. The Bergisch Gladbach location will be abandoned by 1994. Most of the breeder experts will be sent into (early) retirement, while the others will be scattered over other locations or will simply be fired. The sodium test facilities built at a tremendous expenditure, such as ILONA, or the 5 MW Facility, will be dismantled; the technical documents which still exist will disappear in a safe (after having been microfilmed).
Only memories will remain. This report is to preserve them.
