Standby and emergency power supply of German nuclear power plants

In ensuring nuclear safety by the utmost reliable supply of power to all safety related systems under all emergency conditions, U.S. power plants rely heavily on redundant offsite power sources. For years German plant designers have been and are still placing a greater emphasis on onsite power sources in the form of highly redundant sophisticated Diesel generating sets. This difference in fundamental design philosophy and the concepts underlying the Diesel power systems incorporated into German nuclear stations are discussed.