Swiss nuclear safety oversight complies with the internationally applicable standards of the IAEA regulatory framework. This is the outcome of the IRRS mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency that concluded on Friday.
The IRRS mission will be taking place in Switzerland from 18 to 29 October 2021. As part of this mission, experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be reviewing the Swiss regulatory system and ENSI’s work.
Since 11 March 2011, ENSI has been addressing the lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi reactor accident. To mark the tenth anniversary, ENSI is publishing a further report, and considering its regulatory approaches and methods in respect of human and organisational factors.
The 65th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is taking place from 20 to 24 September. The focus is on nuclear safety, security and verification as well as the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
ENSI is participating in two large-scale international research projects providing data on the ageing phenomena of reactors and on the operating and accident behaviour of fuel rods. The findings are being incorporated into ENSI’s safety assessments.
After the events in Fukushima Daiichi, ENSI ordered immediate actions and additional safety tests for the Swiss nuclear power plants. Moreover, from the accident analysis and the EU stress test, ENSI derived a need for action to improve nuclear safety in Switzerland: the “Fukushima Action Plan”.
Today, the Federal Office of the Environment, FOEN, published its study “Extreme Flooding of the River Aare”. Their findings also include a re-evaluation of the flood risk to nuclear installations located on the Aare.
The tests at the time confirmed that, in international comparison, Swiss nuclear power plants have a high safety level. Despite these learnings, it is important to remain attentive at all times, to keep the proofs of safety up to date, to live a strong safety culture and to systematically analyse events.
For the second time since the Fukushima accident in 2011, power plant operators have demonstrated that their plants are capable of withstanding an extremely rare, severe earthquake.
