Mühleberg nuclear power plant
Scheduled annual revision beginsBKW AG has shut down Mühleberg nuclear power plant (KKM) on August 5, 2012, as scheduled, for refuelling and annual revision work. The work is due to take roughly four weeks. BKW is carrying out a range of important renewal and maintenance work with a view to long-term operation of the plant.
During the operating period from the end of September 2011
to early August 2012, KKM fed a gross volume of 2,935
million kWh of CO2-neutral electricity into the BKW grid
over a period of 7,594 operating hours. This very
satisfactory result is due to preventive maintenance and an
on-going modernisation programme, backed up by optimised
fuel application. KKM has once again made a significant
contribution to maintaining security of supply in
north-west Switzerland.
Main focus of revision work
The main focus of the 2012 revision work will be on
extensive repeat tests and inspections in and on the
reactor pressure vessel using qualified testing systems.
Six of the 57 control rod drives are being replaced. A
reactor recirculation pump motor is also being replaced and
a main cooling water pump motor is being revised.
Replacement of the drive systems for the two feedwater
pumps and the relevant measuring points will make the plant
compliant with the state of the art in this area. Repeat
testing of the electrical systems (instrumentation, reactor
protection, control equipment of the SUSAN emergency
system), replacement of some of the emergency power
batteries in the SUSAN system, and tests on alternative
emergency power supply systems form part of a maintenance
and inspection cycle, and provide an additional assurance
of plant safety. Annual inspection and maintenance work is
also being performed on many other parts of the
facility.
This year, 32 of the total 240 fuel elements are being
replaced. Preventive recurrent revision and inspection work
is also being carried out on the safety systems, the
turbine and generator groups, the electrical protection and
control systems and the transformers. During the work, the
330 BKW employees are being supported by some 650 external
specialists from the region, from elsewhere in Switzerland
and from abroad.
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