ENSI is responsible for the supervision of Swiss nuclear facilities, i.e. the nuclear power stations, the interim storage facility for radioactive waste, the nuclear research facilities at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne. Its regulatory remit covers the entire life of a facility, i.e. from initial planning, through operation to final decommissioning including the disposal of radioactive waste.
Its remit also includes the safety of staff and the public and their protection from radiation, sabotage and terrorism.
ENSI is also involved in the transport of radioactive materials to and from nuclear facilities and in the continuing geoscientific investigations to identify a suitable location for the deep geological disposal of radioactive waste.
ENSI supports research into nuclear safety and is represented on more than 70 international commissions and specialist groups working in the field of nuclear safety. It makes, therefore an active contribution to new international safety guidelines. Through its network of contacts, ENSI is in touch with current developments in science and technology and discharges its regulatory remit on the basis of global experience in nuclear energy.
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.
ENSI will be participating in the Ninth Review Meeting of the Convention on Nuclear Safety of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, scheduled to take place from 20 to 31 March. This year’s conference will be evaluating Switzerland’s Eighth and Ninth National Reports.
ENSI is attending a four-day conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA – the International Conference on Effective Nuclear and Radiation Regulatory Systems – which is taking place in Abu Dhabi from 13 to 16 February 2023.
ENSI took part in the third IAEA International Conference on Occupational Radiation Protection from 5 to 9 September 2022.
The IAEA has presented its final report on the review of nuclear oversight in Switzerland. The conclusion: ENSI acts as an independent and progressive regulatory authority in accordance with internationally applicable safety standards.
At its meeting on 4 March 2022, the Federal Council followed the proposal of the ENSI Board and elected Paul Bossart as a new member of the ENSI Board. Paul Bossart will take office on 1 April 2022.
With her departure, the ENSI Board is losing a member who brought important know-how and experience to the Board in the areas of safety, organisational culture and risk management.
The events in Japan are a reminder that we must never let down our guard. It is essential to ensure the safety of Swiss nuclear power plants right up until their final days of operation. Moreover, the accident in Japan shone a light on another important aspect: emergency preparedness.
Against the background of the lessons learnt from the major nuclear accident in Fukushima, the ENSI Board will continue to carry out its duties both vigilantly and independently, while ensuring the clear separation of ENSI’s regulatory safety function on the one hand from economic and political interests on the other.
150 employees of the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate ENSI work every day in various fields for the nuclear safety of the Swiss population.
