[en] Most of the nuclear licensing processes for German NPPs are conducted in the decade between 1976 and 1986. The latest NPP, GKN 2 (Neckarwestheim, unit 2), went into commercial operation in April 1989. In 1999 the average plant availability of the 19 operating units was 8004 hours (over 91%). Production in 2000 is about 170 TWh (gross). In June 2000 agreement between the German government and the utilities about the further utilization of nuclear power is established. A residual energy production, related to the beginning of the year 2000 was fixed for each unit. There is no licensing of a commercial unit underway in Germany. Procedure for the new research reactor Munich 2 (FRM 2) is in progress. Licensing related activities exist continuously with regard to refueling, back-fitting measures and plant modifications for operating NPPs, increase of power, increase of the initial enrichment of fuel, and use of different cladding material. A new safety approach for future PWRs and corresponding technical guidelines were developed together with French partners in the years 1993 to 1998. The major rules and regulations with relevance to the accident analysis are divided into two groups. For the first group the rules are legally binding for each licensing case by law. The second group of the rules depends on a case by case decision made by the licensing authority in a particular licensing process. Usually the authority requested the fulfilment of the RSK-guidelines and the relevant KTA standards. The existing rules and regulations are related mainly to design, construction and commissioning of NPPs and were not primarily developed to consider requirements that can be derived from a long-term operational experience. These rules and regulations were created at a time when there was a broad willingness of consent to solve problems and find results among all participants and when the necessary expertise was still present to the required extent. It is therefore not surprising that the present rules and regulations have to be supplemented. Furthermore, they almost exclusively concentrate on a deterministic safety assessment, but in the meantime probabilistic safety assessments have become the state of the art