Muhleberg nuclear plant in Switzerland restarts operations

BKW FMB Energie said Wednesday that the Muhleberg Nuclear Power Plant in Switzerland is back online following annual maintenance work that began Aug. 3.
   
During the outage, specialists and staff took part in comprehensive testing of all components and systems and preventive work on the reactor. A total of 36 fuel rods were replaced out of 240. During this time an independent cooling water supply was also finalized and was connected to the SUSAN emergency system, which acts as a guaranteed water supply system in the case of natural phenomenon.

The company states that it had been compliant with requirements from the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI).

It has been reported that during the restarting process of the plant a scheduled test required it to be shut down for a short time due to an issue within the turbine control system. Once this was alleviated and reported to ENSI the facility was granted a restarting permit.
   
World Nuclear News reported earlier this year that the facility's planned retrofits and upgrades were approved by ENSI, with these in place the facility would be able to remain in operation until 2019. Upgrades included emergency cooling pumps and the emergency water cooling system.