Beznau Nuclear Power Plant in Aargau begins maintenance, focusing on critical components and safety.

Block 1 of the Beznau nuclear power plant in the canton of Aargau will be taken off the grid on Friday for its annual overhaul. According to energy company Axpo, the overhaul will take around seven weeks.

The main focus of the overhaul is comprehensive maintenance work, recurring tests and inspections.

The focus is on the core internals and the lower feed-throughs of the reactor pressure vessel as well as one of the two high-pressure turbines, as Axpo announced on Wednesday.

In addition, the emergency diesel of the emergency power system will be replaced with a freshly overhauled replacement unit.

According to Axpo, Block 1 will be decommissioned after 331 days of operation. Since June 1, 2023, the unit has produced around 3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.

This corresponds to the average annual consumption of around 620,000 four-person households.

The Beznau I reactor unit on the Aare island in Döttingen was connected to the grid in 1969 and reactor unit II in 1971. The electricity company Axpo is currently examining the possibility of operating the two oldest Swiss nuclear reactors beyond 2030.

©Keystone/SDA