The Federal Council created the Federal Workgroup for Nuclear Waste Disposal in 1978. Its main tasks for the Federal Council are to follow general developments in nuclear waste disposal, draft position statements and deal with questions concerning waste disposal. The workgroup coordinates the independent research on waste disposal carried out by Nagra. In addition, it follows the status of the implementation of the recommendations of the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Commission.
The workgroup comprises representatives from the supervisory (Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate), licensing (Swiss Federal Office of Energy), public health (Federal Office of Public Health), environmental protection (Federal Office for the Environment) and area planning (Federal Office for Spatial Development) authorities, as well as from the Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo) and the Paul Scherrer Institute (research). Members of Nagra are called on as experts on a case by case basis.
Each year the workgroup submits a report on its activities to the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC).
