"It is a scandal" According to the Energy Foundation, the safety gap at the Gösgen nuclear power plant has existed since 1979
The Gösgen nuclear power plant has been at a standstill for months. The Swiss Energy Foundation has now commissioned an expert report. According to the report, there has been a safety gap since the plant was commissioned in 1979.
29.11.2025, 18:26
29.11.2025, 18:33
SDA
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- The Gösgen nuclear power plant has been shut down since the end of May.
- According to an expert report commissioned by the Swiss Energy Foundation, a safety gap has existed since the plant was commissioned.
- In the event of an incident, there is a risk of the reactor's cooling system failing without these flaps. This could result in severe core damage or even a meltdown.
The Swiss Energy Foundation has commissioned an expert report on how to rectify the problem at the Gösgen nuclear power plant. It speaks of a scandal. The missing flaps, which are currently being retrofitted, had already posed a major risk since commissioning. The supervisory authority Ensi disagrees.
The Gösgen nuclear power plant has not been connected to the grid since May 24. The restart was delayed due to a safety gap: The operators were instructed to provide evidence of a possible overload in the feedwater piping system. Reinforcement measures are now required - so-called damped non-return valves.
The report by the Swiss Energy Foundation (SES) has now come to the conclusion that these valves have been missing since the nuclear power plant was commissioned in 1979, as was reported in a press release on Saturday. In the event of an incident, there is a risk of reactor cooling failure without these dampers. This could result in severe core damage or even a meltdown.
"Playing with fire"
"It is a scandal that the Gösgen nuclear power plant has been operated with such a potentially catastrophic weak point since it was commissioned. This shows that this technology is playing with fire," Stephanie Eger, Head of the Nuclear Energy Division at SES, was quoted as saying.
However, the supervisory authority, the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (Ensi), rejects the criticism. The problem with the non-return valves had already been addressed by the previous authority in 1998. A spokesperson for the Ensi confirmed an article in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper when asked by Keystone-SDA.
According to Ensi, instead of the flaps, reinforced supports in the pipelines were used in Gösgen. Unlike at the other Swiss nuclear power plants. In Beznau and Leibstadt, these dampers had been retrofitted "a long time ago", according to the SES.
It was only thanks to new calculation methods that a "possible design weakness in the feedwater system" became apparent, the Ensi wrote on its website.
SES is now calling for the rapid expansion of renewables. "A solar plant or a wind turbine can also be damaged, but that doesn't immediately put the entire country and half the continent in acute danger," says Eger. Gösgen is expected to be reconnected to the grid at the end of February 2026.
