A nature paradise surrounding the nuclear power plant Zwentendorf: the plant’s premises were basically a pristine nature paradise along the Danube before the nuclear power plant was built.

Although the plant’s construction works seriously affected the area’s flora and fauna, everything changed when the power plant was not commissioned. Nature is always able to reconquer even massively industrialized areas. This is also true for the premises of the nuclear power plant Zwentendorf. Nature received lots of help as well: the plant’s operator EVN initiated several measures to turn the old facilities into animal-friendly infrastructure. Several steel tanks, for example, have been equipped with wire netting, so they do not become deadly bird traps; the tributaries of the Danube are home to beavers, while birds are nesting on top of the exhaust air stacks. Moreover, the “Association of Austrian Hedgehog Friends” is authorised to use the grounds to release hedgehogs into the wild that were injured by cars and then nursed back to health by activists. In the course of time, the open-air premises around the power plant have become a one-of-a-kind oasis of nature brimming with plants and animals.