Framatome to Modernise I&C System at Gösgen NPP

Last week, Framatome (ENS Corporate Member) was awarded a contract to modernize the Reactor Protection System (RPS) in the emergency control building at the Gösgen Nuclear Power Plant in Switzerland. The plant is operated by Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG (also ENS Corporate Member).

The RPS monitors vital reactor operation parameters and in the event of any deviation safely powers down the reactor. The RPS at Gösgen will be modernized using Framatome’s TELEPERM XS digital instrumentation and control (I&C) platform, which has been installed or is currently being installed in 92 reactors in 17 countries worldwide.

The Gösgen nuclear power plant is a single-unit pressurized water reactor, with a net electric output of 1010 MW.

It was connected to the grid in 1979, and during its 45 years of operation, the Gösgen NPP supplied 329.21 TWh of low-carbon electricity.

Read the full Framatome Press Release.

Since 2002, Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG and Framatome cooperated in the modernisation of the plant’s I&C systems using a step-by-step approach, transitioning from analogue to the latest digital technologies, while increasing performance and safety.

The collaboration between the two companies is extended to several fields. For example, in 2020 Framatome’s 3D-printed nuclear fuel elements successfully completed the first cycle of irradiation in operating conditions at the Swiss facility.

These experimental stainless steel and nickel-based alloy components were installed there in 2019 for a five-cycle programme.