Technology and Operation - Kernkraftwerk Gösgen

Contribution to Switzerland’s
electricity supply
The reactor building of the Gösgen nuclear power plant.
The move into nuclear power
Switzerland initially generated its electricity
solely on the basis of hydropower, since the
country has no fossil energy resources to tap.
With the economic boom that followed on
from the Second World War, demand for electricity
rose rapidly in the 1950s, and the further
expansion of hydropower soon came up
against its limits on both landscape and economic
grounds.
While the electricity supply companies were
planning fossil-fired electricity generating
plants, the Swiss Federal Council opted for
the introduction of nuclear power at the start
of the 1960s. The decisive arguments in
favour of nuclear power were its low generation
costs, the dependable supply and environmental
protection. Clean nuclear energy
was to complement clean hydroelectric
power.
Planning work on the first nuclear power
plants commenced without delay, and the
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Annual electricity generation has increased by 2 billion kWh since the
start of operation.
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8,5
8
7,5
7
6,5
6
5,5
5
Annual output
Net production (billion kWh) Nominal power (in MW)
1030
1020
1010
1000
990
980
970
960
950
940