The outage of a nuclear power plant is usually a big deal. Hundreds of maintenance specialists are called to service the facilities. In times of COVID-19 this is no simple task. Among other things, it is difficult to source the necessary skilled workers from abroad. Most nuclear plants in Switzerland had to react and shortened their annual maintenance activities.

The nuclear plant in Beznau in Northern Switzerland has decided differently: The annual outage of Unit 1 started as originally planned. In view of the border closings this was controversial but the activities could not be postponed because of refuelling requirements. Since 1^st June 2019, Unit 1 has produced more than 2.8 billion kWh of electricity, which corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of around 600’000 households.

The focus of the activities includes maintenance work, periodic inspections, commissioning of new systems as well as integral system tests. Of total 121 fuel elements 20 will be replaced.

During this year’s outage in these challenging times, the Beznau employees are supported by around 400 external specialists from Switzerland as well as from neighboring countries. AST Turbo supports the main turbine maintenance activities with a team of specialists.

To protect own and external staff, rigorous safety measures were applied to ensure that the virus does not spread among workers. Among other measures, this is reflected by careful health checks, access procedures and in the execution of work.

The Swiss Television (SRF) has accompanied the annual outage for one day. See here how the maintenance activities are executed and how AST Turbo supports them during these extraordinary times.