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.
The international conference “A Decade of Progress after Fukushima Daiichi” was held in Vienna from 8 to 12 November 2021. ENSI also took part in the conference.
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.
Switzerland is on course with its implementation of recommendations resulting from the EU Stress Test. This emerges from the status report submitted to the European Union (EU) by the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI).
The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) intends to continue improving the safety of Switzerland’s nuclear power plants. After its analysis of the events at Fukushima, ENSI therefore defined follow-up measures for the current year relating to eleven key topics.
At the OECD Forum in Paris, ENSI Director Hans Wanner argued for a strengthening of the international monitoring of nuclear power. This followed comments by the Swiss Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard at yesterday’s meeting of minsters from the G8 and G20 countries on nuclear safety in Paris during which she called for internationally binding safety standards. Compliance with such standards should be monitored by independent inspectors from other countries and in the interests of transparency the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency should facilitate easy access to the results.
