Beznau nuclear power plant: Start of scheduled outage of Unit 2

17.08.2017 - The Beznau nuclear power plant (KKB) will take Unit 2 off grid on Friday, 18 August 2017 for a schedule outage and refuelling. Refurbishment work will take a little over a month.

The focus of refurbishment comprises extensive, recurring test; and inspection work, as well as the replacement of plant components. Integral system tests will also be carried out. Twenty of the total 121 fuel elements will be replaced and installed in the reactor core.

The start of refurbishment marks the end of the production cycle that began on 18 August 2016. Since then, KKB 2 has generated some 2.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, which corresponds to the yearly electricity consumption of approx. 600,000 households in Switzerland.

When the plant is being shut down steam will be emitted into the atmosphere from the powerhouse in the non-nuclear section of the plant. This does not pose any danger to human beings or the environment.

During refurbishment the 440 employees at KKB will be supported by 275 external specialists from the region as well as from Switzerland and abroad.

The work is being supervised by the Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate ENSI.