Directly after the accident in Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant on 11 March 2011, ENSI ordered immediate measures for a review of the safety of the Swiss nuclear power plants.
In parallel, an interdisciplinary team of experts from ENSI (the “Japan Analysis Team”) reconstructed the events of the accident and subjected them to in-depth analysis.
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.
After the nuclear accident in Fukushima Daiichi, extrapolations revealed that about one-eighth of the amount of radioactivity that escaped at Chernobyl was released into the surrounding area.
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.
Ten years ago, a very strong earthquake and the subsequent tsunami destroyed the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). Safety systems failed and in several reactor units, the result was a core meltdown and the release of considerable quantities of radioactive substances.
Nine months after the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japan is working to contain radiation exposure in the region of the accident. The challenges confronting the country in this endeavour are shown by the new ENSI report on the radiological effects of the accident on 11 March 2011. ENSI already deduced some “Lessons learned for Swiss radiation protection” at the end of October.
The analysis of the accidents at Fukushima confirms that Swiss nuclear plants are safe. However, the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) has identified a variety of findings (Lessons Learned) from Fukushima which should now be utilised to continue optimising the safety of Switzerland’s nuclear power plants. All the measures that need to be implemented on the basis of these findings should be in place by 2015.
Inadequate technical design against tsunamis was indisputably a key factor in the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plants on 11 March 2011. In order to understand the scope and complexity of the event, an interdisciplinary analysis team was formed at ENSI. Its members include (for example) experts in the fields of people and organisation, […]
