Gösgen Nuclear Power Plant
| Gösgen Nuclear Power Station | |
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Gösgen Nuclear Power Plant
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 Location of Gösgen Nuclear Power Station in Switzerland
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| Official name | Kernkraftwerk Gösgen |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Location | Däniken, canton of Solothurn |
| Coordinates | 47°21′58″N 7°58′0″E / 47.36611°N 7.96667°ECoordinates: 47°21′58″N 7°58′0″E / 47.36611°N 7.96667°E |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | 1973 |
| Commission date | 1 November 1979 |
| Operator(s) | Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | PWR |
| Reactor supplier | German Kraftwerk Union AG |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 1 x 970 MW |
| Nameplate capacity | 970 MW |
| Capacity factor | 95.0% |
| Annual output | 8,072 GW·h |
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Website www |
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The Gösgen Nuclear Power Plant (in German Kernkraftwerk Gösgen, abbreviated in KKG) is located in the Däniken municipality (canton of Solothurn, Switzerland) on a loop of the Aar river. It is operated by the ad hoc society Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG.
The first discussions about the construction of the third Swiss nuclear power plant started in 1966. In 1970 the formal request was submitted to the federal authorities. Initially foreseeing a river water cooling, the blueprints had to be modified in order to meet a new federal regulation that in 1971 forbade such systems for future plants. After the introduction of a cooling tower, the authorities issued the location authorization on 31 October 1972. The construction started in summer 1973, after that a series of local permits had been granted. The commissioning was authorized on 29 September 1979. The KKG was ready to start operation in February 1979, but the Three Mile Island accident led the Swiss Federal Council to order a security check on the Swiss plants that took some months. It eventually entered its commercial phase on 1 November 1979. The unlimited operating license was issued on 29 September 1978.
Over the years the gross plant output has been increased from the initial 970 MW to 990 MW (1992) and finally to the present 1020 MW by a series of small changes in the reactor configuration and the installation of new low pressure turbines.
The last significant change to the KKG was the construction of a new storage facility for spent rods. It entered operation in 2008.
In the 1970s the opposition to the construction of new plants increased in importance. Despite the accident at the Lucens Nuclear Power Plant, the debate mostly regarded technical aspects such as the construction of facilities in densely populated areas or the cooling system. Numerous were the concerns about an overexploitation of the Aar and Rhine waters, already used for the cooling of the Beznau and Mühleberg stations and in numerous hydroelectric plants. In March 1971 the Federal Council forbade the use of river water for direct cooling of new plants. Since the KKG should also have been cooled by the Aar, the project had to be adapted by adding the cooling tower.
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