Gösgen nuclear power facility, located in Däniken in the Solothurn canton, has temporarily ceased the production of electricity. There is a need for the managing body to establish proof of a contingency plan in the event of potential overburdening within the feedwater pipeline system.
The regulatory body, Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI), has not specified any particular timeline for this necessary requirement. The comprehensiveness of the safety scenarios makes their preparation much more time-consuming than first anticipated.
The timeline to provide proof of readiness to the ENSI will be directly tied to the advancement of preparations. When approached for a comment, the ENSI media office declined to offer an estimate on the time required for the examination of the essential documents. ‘We are unable to gauge this at the moment,’ was the response.
A few weeks prior, the managing organization made an announcement that after annual inspection, the plant would stay offline for an extended period than initially proposed. The facility was taken offline on May 24th for necessary maintenance.
According to statements by plant administrators, the facility has been safely deactivated and remains so currently. A proposed part of the technical modernization process includes the planned replacement of non-return valves in the feedwater system.
New and advanced computational methods have been utilized in this overhaul process. The results obtained from these calculations implied potential overloads or stress peaks in certain segments of the non-nuclear feedwater pipeline system, in the event of pipe rupture.
Following these discoveries, the nuclear power plant administration promptly informed the overseeing body, ENSI. Until the ENSI has gone through the validation process post receiving the required proof, the nuclear plant will be unable to recommence its operations.
Any time a nuclear power plant is unable to connect to the grid as projected, substantial cost implications befall the operator. Often, as a large portion of the generated electricity is pre-sold, the operator must offset the shortfall by purchasing replacement power.
The Gösgen plant generates approximately eight billion kilowatt-hours of electrical power each year. This production accounts for a significant 13% of the total electricity consumption of Switzerland.
The power plant first commenced commercial operations back in the year 1979. Alpiq, with a 40% stake, is the leading shareholder of the power plant.
Not far behind are other significant shareholders, including Axpo Power, CKW, the City of Zurich, and Energie Wasser Bern. As it currently stands, the plant operations will remain on hold until all necessary regulatory compliance requirements are satisfactorily met.