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.
Werner Bühlmann is due to stand down from the ENSI Board at the end of 2018. The 72 year-old cites his advancing years as the reason for his decision. While regretting his departure, the ENSI Board offer its sincere thanks for his contributions over the years.
At the 62nd General Conference of the IAEA in Vienna, Switzerland last week committed itself to the strengthening of nuclear safety and security at the global level. ENSI also participated in bilateral discussions with international partners on the imortant topics of safety culture, emergency preparedness and the international security of nuclear installations and materials.
Three years ago, as a result of the accident in Fukushima, the international community set a marker for the continuous improvement of nuclear safety with the issuing of the Vienna Declaration. The task now is the joint implementation of this commitment.
Swiss nuclear power plants have an adequate level of protection against a deliberate plane crash. This is confirmed by an update of the associated analyses ordered by the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) in 2013. For security reasons, the details are being kept under wraps.
The nuclear security regime is well established in Switzerland. That was the finding of an IPPAS team of experts of the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) at the conclusion of their two-week mission.
