German utility RWE will apply to the authorities in the coming months to decommission two idled nuclear power reactor blocks at the Biblis site, the first step in a lengthy process likely to take many years, the company said on Friday.
"RWE Power (the generation arm) will in the coming months prepare an application for direct break-up of the Biblis power station, which will be submitted to the Hesse state authorities in the second half of the year," it said on its website. "Preliminary assessments have shown that a break-up of the unit is preferable to safe enclosure."
RWE also said it may take several years to get approval for the plan.
RWE's move may also set in motion a trend for six other sites subject to Germany's hasty exit from much of its nuclear capacity last summer, since no concrete decision on the future of the company's plants have been made.