The Gösgen NPP is located in Canton Solothurn on a loop of the Aare river and is near the large consumer centres of the Swiss Midlands.
The plant is a pressurised water reactor of the company Siemens KWU (now Areva NP) and is cooled with a cooling tower. It generates around 8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year – around one-seventh of the country’s electricity needs.
Gösgen has an unlimited operating licence. There are five partners in the company Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG that operates the plant:
- Alpiq AG (40%)
- Axpo Power AG (25%)
- City of Zürich (15%)
- Centralschweizerische Kraftwerke AG (CKW, 12.5%)
- Energie Wasser Bern (ewb, 7.5%)
Facts and figures
In operation since: 1979
Output: 1035 MW gross, 985 MW net
Annual production: around 8000 GWh
Number of employees: 500
Management:Alpiq