Beznau nuclear power plant
Beznau nuclear power plant is a nuclear power station in Switzerland with 2 operating units totalling 760 MW gross. The site has 3 units on record in total.
Units
| Unit | Status | Type | Model | Gross MW | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | PWR | WH 2LP | 380 | 1969 | |
| Unit 2 | PWR | WH 2LP | 380 | 1972 | |
| Unit 3 | Cancelled | - | - | 1,600 | - |
Unit by unit
Each unit's rating, type and milestone dates as recorded by the Global Nuclear Power Tracker, with any correction we made to it. A dash or "not disclosed" means the source does not give the value.
Beznau nuclear power plant 1
| Reactor type | Pressurised water reactor (PWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | Westinghouse 2-loop |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 380MW |
| Net capacity | 365MW |
| Thermal output | 1,130MWt |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | Westinghouse Electric Company |
| Owner | Kernkraftwerk Beznau Ch-5312 Döttingen100% |
| Operator | Kernkraftwerk Beznau Ch-5312 Döttingen |
| Construction start | 1 Sep 1965 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 30 Jun 1969 |
| Grid connection | 17 Jul 1969 |
| Commercial operation | 9 Dec 1969 |
Beznau nuclear power plant 2
| Reactor type | Pressurised water reactor (PWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | Westinghouse 2-loop |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 380MW |
| Net capacity | 365MW |
| Thermal output | 1,130MWt |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | Westinghouse Electric Company |
| Owner | Kernkraftwerk Beznau Ch-5312 Döttingen100% |
| Operator | Kernkraftwerk Beznau Ch-5312 Döttingen |
| Construction start | 1 Jan 1968 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 16 Oct 1971 |
| Grid connection | 23 Oct 1971 |
| Commercial operation | 4 Mar 1972 |
Beznau nuclear power plant 3 Cancelled
| Reactor type | not disclosed |
|---|---|
| Model | not disclosed |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 1,600MW |
| Net capacity | not disclosed |
| Thermal output | not disclosed |
| Enrichment | not established |
| NSSS vendor | not on record |
| Cancelled | 2011 |
| Milestones | no dates on record |
|---|
Beznau nuclear power plant in context
By gross operating capacity Beznau nuclear power plant is the 3rd largest of 3 operating nuclear sites in Switzerland, holding 25% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 161st of 172 worldwide.
Its operating units started up between 1969 and 1972; the median unit is 55.5 years old, older than the median of 50.5 in Switzerland.
The 2 units with both construction and grid dates on record took 3.8 to 3.9 years (median 3.8) from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1970s is 5.4 years.
The nearest other tracked nuclear sites are Leibstadt nuclear power plant (6 km), Goesgen nuclear power plant (28 km) and Cattenom nuclear power plant (255 km).
2 operating units are rated differently now from their design net capacities: Unit 1 +4.3% and Unit 2 +4.3%.
Build time by unit
| Unit | Construction start | Grid connection | Years | Fleet median, same decade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | 1965 | 1969 | 3.9 | 5.0 (1960s) |
| Unit 2 | 1968 | 1971 | 3.8 | 5.4 (1970s) |
Nearest tracked nuclear sites
| Site | Country | Distance | Operating GW gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leibstadt nuclear power plant | Switzerland | 6 km | 1.3 |
| Goesgen nuclear power plant | Switzerland | 28 km | 1.1 |
| Cattenom nuclear power plant | France | 255 km | 5.4 |
How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.
Earthquakes nearby
Loading the latest USGS check…
| Time (UTC) | Mag | Depth | Epicentre | Distance |
|---|
Magnitude 4.0 and above within 200 km of Beznau nuclear power plant's listed coordinates, past 30 days. This is distance, not shaking: it says nothing about damage or any change in operation. Every plant.
| Location | Aargau, Switzerland |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 47.5520, 8.2281 |
| Elevation | about 335 mabove sea level |
| Setting | About 350 km from the sea |
| Region | Western Europe |
| Units by status | Operating: 2 Cancelled: 1 |
Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.
| Owners | Kernkraftwerk Beznau Ch-5312 Döttingen |
|---|---|
| Operators | Kernkraftwerk Beznau Ch-5312 Döttingen |
Put this plant on your own page: embed a card, or compare it with another plant.
Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data