Lucens nuclear power plant
Gross capacity
7MW
Lucens nuclear power plant is a pressurised heavy water reactor unit at Lucens nuclear power plant in Switzerland rated at 7 MW gross. It is retired. Commercial operation began 1 Jan 1968.
Specification
| Reactor type | Pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | HWGCR: 2-loops |
| Size | Very small20 MWe or less |
| Coolant | Heavy water |
| Moderator | Heavy water |
| Gross capacity | 7MW |
| Net capacity (reference) | 6MW |
| Net capacity (design) | 6MW |
| Thermal output | 28MWt |
| NSSS vendor | not on record |
| Typical enrichment | Natural uranium, 0.71% U-235 |
Ownership & location
| Site | Lucens nuclear power plant |
|---|---|
| Unit | not stated |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Owner | Nationale Gesellschaft Zur Förderung Der Industriellen Atomtechnik100% |
| Operator | Energie De L'Ouest Suisse |
| Coordinates | 46.6927, 6.8272 |
Fuel chain for this unit
Fuel form
Natural uranium dioxide bundles
Enrichment
Natural uranium, 0.71% U-235 no enrichment required
Who makes this assembly
- BWX Technologies CANDU fuel bundles, natural uranium
- Cameco Corporation CANDU fuel bundles, natural uranium
- China North Nuclear Fuel Company CANDU fuel bundles
- KEPCO Nuclear Fuel CANDU fuel bundles
- Nuclear Power Corporation of India PHWR fuel bundles, natural uranium
Upstream
This unit runs on natural uranium, so its fuel chain has no enrichment step at all: mine → mill → conversion → fabrication. That is the shortest fuel chain of any commercial reactor type, and it makes the operator independent of the four organisations that control enrichment worldwide.
Fabricator capability is recorded against reactor type and model line, not against named units,
utilities do not publish fuel contracts. See the fuel chain.
Timeline
- 1 Apr 1962Construction start
- 29 Dec 1966First criticality
- 29 Jan 1968Grid connection
- 1 Jan 1968Commercial operation
- 1 Jan 1969Permanent shutdown
Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06 · this unit last researched by GEM on 2024-05-09
- 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