Gösgen Nuclear Power Plant

Infobox NPP
Picture = Gosgen nuclear.jpg
Pic_des = The Gösgen NPP
Country = Switzerland
Utility = Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG
Built = 1973
Start = February 2, 1979
End =
Reactor = 1
Reactor_MW = 1020
S_Reactor =
El_Prod = 8099
for_year = 2006
El_Prod_avg = 9886
Net_Prod = 201,533
WEBSITE =
as_of = April 5, 2007The Swiss Nuclear power station Gösgen (KKG) is on the Aare River in the canton Solothurn. It started commercial operation in November 1979 and is the first nuclear power station of the 1,000-MW class in Switzerland. The gross rated output was increased from 970 MW in the original plans twice by the developers (1992 to 990 MW and again in 1996 to 1020 MW).

The heart of the power station is a Pressurized water reactor built by KWU what was at that time a subsidiary of Siemens Germany now Areva NP with 3,002 MW of thermal power. The reactor core has 177 fuel assemblies with 205 fuel rods each, which consist of enriched uranium oxide or MOX fuel elements (uranium plutonium mixing oxide fuel elements with a portion of fissile plutonium).

It uses a 150 meter high natural circulation wet cooling tower, so that the Aare River has a smaller burden.

The nuclear power station at Gösgen annually generates about 8 thousand million kilowatt hour, which corresponds to approximately 15% of Swiss demand. It cost 6.30 Rappen (approximately 6 US cents) to produce a kilowatt hour in 1980. This cost was reduced by various projects in 2001 to 4.07 Rappen (approximately 4 US cents).

In the power station Gösgen there are approximately 400 full time workers. The owners of the power station are the Aare Tessin AG electric company (Atel) with 40%, the "Nordostschweizerischen Kraftwerke AG" with 25%, the "Centralschweizerischen Kraftwerke AG" with 12.5%, the city Zurich (EWZ) with 15% and the city Berne with 7.5 per cent. Atel is responsible for management.

ee also

*Nuclear power in Switzerland
*

External links

* [http://www.hsk.ch/ NPP site] (not English)