Radiation protection serves the purpose of protecting the staff, the population and the areas surrounding nuclear plants against ionising radiation. The key aspects here are radiation measurement technology and radioanalytical work.
Liquid radioactive substances from Swiss nuclear facilities that reach the Aare and Rhine rivers are well below the officially defined emission limits. This is the conclusion reached by ENSI in the Eighth Swiss Report on the Implementation of the OSPAR Recommendation on Radioactive Discharges.
The nuclear fuel is pressed into pellets and compacted using the sintering process before use in nuclear power plants. This process transforms the nuclear fuel into a ceramic material, which is able to retain the fission products that arise during operation in the nuclear fuel matrix.
The barrier concept aims to trap sources of radiation in nuclear facilities across several levels. Similar to the layers of an onion, independent barriers ensure that the risk from sources of radiation are minimised for people and the environment.
Radiological protection always begins by avoiding unnecessary exposure. One of the guiding principles behind radiological protection is therefore that the radiation burden on people should be kept as low as is reasonably achievable.
