Forschungszentrum Jülich

The Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons (ER-C) is an institute located on the campus of Forschungszentrum Jülich belonging to the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres. It comprises three divisions: ER-C-1 “Physics of Nanoscale systems”, ER-C-2 “Materials Science and Technology” and ER-C-3 “Structural Biology”. Within the framework of a competence platform governed jointly by Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University, the ER-C operates a national and international user facility that provides access to state-of-the-art instruments, methods and expertise to universities, research institutions and industry. The ER-C's main purposes are fundamental research in electron microscopy, focusing on method development and applications of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and scanning-transmission electron microscopy (STEM) in physics, chemistry and biology.

The AVR reactor (German: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor) was a prototype pebble-bed reactor, located immediately adjacent to Jülich Research Centre in West Germany, constructed in 1960, grid connected in 1967 and shut down in 1988. It was a 15 MWe, 46 MWt test reactor used to develop and test a variety of fuels and machinery. The AVR was based on the concept of a "Daniels pile" by Farrington Daniels, the inventor of pebble bed reactors. Rudolf Schulten is commonly recognized as the intellectual father of the reactor. A consortium of 15 community electric companies owned and operated the plant. Over its lifetime the reactor had many accidents, earning it the name "shipwreck." From 2011 to 2014, outside experts examined the historical operations and operational hazards and described serious concealed problems and wrongdoings in their final 2014 report. For example, in 1978 operators bypassed reactor shutdown controls to delay an emergency shutdown during an accident for six days. In 2014 the JRC and AVR publicly admitted to failures. Its decommissioning has been exceptionally difficult, time-consuming and expensive. Since the original operators were overwhelmed by the effort, government agencies took over dismantling and disposal. In 2003 the reactor and its nuclear waste became government property. The temporary storage of 152 casks of spent fuel has been a controversy since 2009. The approval expired in 2013, because stress tests could not sufficiently demonstrate safety; no permanent solution has been reached. Since 2012 plans to export the casks to the United States have been considered due to the extremely high disposal expenses. In 2014, a massive concrete wall to protect against terrorist plane crashes was to be built. On July 2, 2014, the Federal Environment ministry issued an evacuation order for the temporary storage.AVR was the basis of the technology licensed to China to build HTR-10 and the HTR-PM, which became operational in 2021.

Jülich Solar Tower is a 60-metre (200 ft) high experimental concentrated solar power (CSP) tower, Germany's sole plant using this type of solar power technology. In September 2008 the plant was put into operation on a trial basis. Over 2,000 dual-axis sun-tracking mirrors heat air to 700 °C, which is used to generate steam which flows through a turbine to generate electricity. Insulated steel tanks allow storage of heat for 1.5 hours in the event of clouds passing over. The total electric output of the plant is 1.5 MW. In 2011 it was sold to the German Aerospace Center.

Vogelsang Charterhouse (German: Kartause zum Vogelsang bei Jülich; Latin: Domus compassionis Beatae Mariae in Cantavio prope Iuliacum) was a Carthusian monastery or charterhouse near Jülich in the present North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, founded in 1478 and secularised during the mediatisation of Germany in 1802.

Hambach Forest (German: Hambacher Wald, Hambacher Forst (German pronunciation: [ˈhambaxɐ ˈfɔʁst] ), Bürgewald, Die Bürge) is an ancient forest located near Buir in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, between Cologne and Aachen. It was planned to be cleared as part of the Hambach surface mine by owner RWE AG. There were protests and occupations from 2012 against this, and in 2020 a law was passed to preserve it.

The Sophienhöhe (301.8 m AMSL) is the largest artificial hill worldwide, created by surface mining at the open cast lignite mine Tagebau Hambach operated by RWE Power AG in Düren (district), North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

The Inde (French: L'Inde) is a small river in Belgium and in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The siege of Jülich was a major operation in the second phase of the Eighty Years' War that took place from 5 September 1621 to 3 February 1622. A few months after the Twelve Years' Truce between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Monarchy expired, the Spanish Army of Flanders, led by the Genoese nobleman Ambrogio Spinola, went on the offensive against the Republic and approached the Rhine river to mask its true intentions: laying siege to the town of Jülich, which the Dutch States Army had occupied in 1610 during the War of the Jülich Succession. Although the capture of the town would not allow for a Spanish invasion of the Republic, its location between the Rhine and Meuse rivers rendered it strategically significant for both sides, given that the United Provinces greatly benefited from the river trade with the neighboring neutral states and Spain was pursuing a strategy of blockading the waterways which flowed across the Republic to ruin its economy. The siege operations were undertaken by a relatively small force under Count Hendrik van den Bergh, a Catholic cousin of Prince Maurice of Orange, while the Spanish main army under Spinola took positions along the neighboring Duchy of Cleves to prevent the States Army under Maurice to relieve Jülich. Located far away from the Dutch border, the town had strong defenses and was well garrisoned by a force under Frederik Pithan. Spinola therefore ordered a blockade to starve the defenders while they were submitted to regular bombardments. Pithan launched several sorties over the siege works, but they achieved little. An attempt by Maurice to sneak some troops across the Spanish lines also failed. In January 1622, the defenders, decimated by hunger and cold, surrendered to Van den Bergh. During 1622 and 1623, the Spanish Army completely evicted the Dutch troops from the rest of the Duchy of Jülich, as well as from the towns and castles that they held in Westphalia. Though the river blockade was ultimately unsuccessful, Jülich remained in Spanish control until 1660, and the Catholic victory was celebrated by artworks commissioned by the Spanish Crown and the Spinola family. Additionally, it was reported while it was ongoing by the fledgling press of the Northern and Southern Netherlands.

Jülich (German pronunciation: [ˈjyːlɪç] ; in old spellings also known as Guelich or Gülich, Dutch: Gulik, French: Juliers, Ripuarian: Jöllesch) is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. As a border region between the competing powers in the Lower Rhine and Meuse areas, the town and the Duchy of Jülich played a historic role from the Middle Ages up to the 17th century.

Niederzier is a municipality in the district of Düren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 10 km north of Düren, and 10 km south-east of Jülich.

The Duchy of Jülich (German: Herzogtum Jülich; Dutch: Hertogdom Gulik; French: Duché de Juliers) comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay west of the Rhine river and was bordered by the Electorate of Cologne to the east and the Duchy of Limburg to the west. It had territories on both sides of the river Rur, around its capital Jülich – the former Roman Iuliacum – in the lower Rhineland. The duchy amalgamated with the County of Berg beyond the Rhine in 1423, and from then on also became known as Jülich-Berg. Later it became part of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Its territory lies in present-day Germany (part of North Rhine-Westphalia) and in the present-day Netherlands (part of the Limburg province), its population sharing the same Limburgish dialect.

The Jülich shortwave transmitter, operated by Deutsche Telekom / T-Systems, was a part of the shortwave broadcasting facility at Jülich, Germany. In 1956 WDR broadcaster established the first shortwave transmitter near Mersch, and in subsequent years this site was expanded. On 1 September 1961 this site was handed over to the Deutsche Bundespost (German Federal Post) to establish the German foreign broadcasting service, "Deutsche Welle". In time 10 transmitters of 100 kilowatts were installed. These were transmitting antennas with enormous dipole arrays between free-standing steel framework towers which were installed. Today these transmitters are rented predominantly to non-German broadcasting organisations. In the 1990s a mediumwave transmitter was installed on the site, using a long wire antenna which is spun at a tower on the transmitter site. It was intended to be used for transmission of the programmes of "Radio Viva" on 702 kHz, but it never went into regular service for this broadcaster. Since 6 December 2004, the mediumwave transmitter has been used to broadcast the programme of the German commercial broadcaster "TruckRadio" on 702 kHz. In 2006, the British multi-millionaire Bob Edmiston from West Bromwich, acquired the entire transmitter. The car dealer and founder of the Christian missionary vision is regarded as creationist and had, amongst other things, bought a radio transmitter in Darwin, Australia 6 years ago. In January 2008 the broadcasting facility was sold by T-Systems to the religious broadcaster CVC / Christian Vision. When the broadcasting had been discontinued a recreation area with camping and hotels was to be built there.Meanwhile, all antennas have been removed.