Nuclear power plant in Solothurn, Switzerland. Approximate location 47.3656, 7.968.
NuclearSolothurnSwitzerland
Kernkraftwerk Gösgen is a 1,060 MW nuclear power station in Solothurn, Switzerland. It is operated by Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 2.4 million homes (estimated). It ranks #4 of 174 Switzerland power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1979, it is around 47 years old — long-established. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, nuclear supplies about 29.9% of Switzerland's electricity; the national grid averages 39 gCO₂/kWh (97.7% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1004272.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM · 2026 · L100000500106; fuel: WRI GPPD
At 1,060 MW, Kernkraftwerk Gösgen is well above the median nuclear plant in Switzerland (950 MW). Nuclear plants split uranium to raise steam with no direct CO₂; they run as steady baseload with very high capacity factors and the longest operating lifetimes of any thermal plant.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG.
This nuclear plant uses heat from nuclear fission to raise steam for a turbine-generator. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 47.4°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 38% above the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 73/100 — this site sits in the top third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #3 largest nuclear power plant of 7 in Switzerland by capacity.
Switzerland has 7 nuclear power plants in this dataset, together about 5,582 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 47.3656, 7.968 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Kernkraftwerk Gösgen is a 1,060 MW nuclear power plant in Solothurn, Switzerland, commissioned in 1979.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 2,387,725 homes (estimated).
Kernkraftwerk Gösgen is operated by Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG.
