ENSI Director General Hans Wanner is resigning from his position as WENRA chairperson. His replacement is Olivier Gupta, Director General of the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN). The official handover occurred as part of the celebrations of WENRA’s 20th anniversary.
On 4 and 5 November, ENSI hosts the DECOVALEX 2019 Symposium in Brugg. This research conference welcomes international delegates to discuss the long-term safety of deep geological repositories for radioactive waste.
The Federal Council has appointed Martin Zimmermann as the new Vice Chair of the ENSI Board with effect from 1 September 2019. Prof Andreas Abegg has also been appointed to the ENSI Board.
On 28 August 2019, the ENSI Board elected Marc Kenzelmann as the new Director General of the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate ENSI. He will take office on 1 July 2020. The current Deputy Director of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE will succeed Hans Wanner.
Switzerland implements the requirements of the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS). This emerges from the 8th National Report to the CNS, submitted this week by the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) to the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA.
The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate assessed the earthquake safety of the Beznau nuclear power plant in accordance with the legal requirements. The Swiss Federal Administrative Court has thus rejected an appeal lodged by 15 individuals.
In mid-January, a delegation from the Nuclear Regulatory body of Russia and the Russian Scientific and Engineering Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Safety visited ENSI to learn more about the search for a site for deep geological repositories in Switzerland. In addition to the site selection process, the next step in Russia is the construction of an underground research laboratory in the Krasnoyarsk region.
A year after Jürg Schmid retired from the ENSI Board, the Federal Council has selected Tanja Manser as his successor. The ENSI Board will therefore have six members from 1 January 2019.
Swiss nuclear facilities successfully reduced their liquid radioactive releases in recent years. This emerged from the seventh report submitted by Switzerland on the implementation of the OSPAR Convention.
