Radioactive Waste

A deep geological repository is a nuclear facility in accordance with the Nuclear Energy Act. A general licence from the Federal Council and a construction and operating licence from DETEC are required before it can be put into operation.

Radioactive waste is produced every day in Switzerland through electricity production as well as in the medical, industrial and research sectors.

The planning, construction and operation of such a plant also have an impact on the environment, economy and society in the siting region. These aspects are also taken into account in the sectoral plan procedure for deep geological repositories.

The search for suitable repository sites is regulated in the Deep Geological Repositories Sectoral Plan. The search is carried out in three stages in which the selection of geological site regions is gradually narrowed down.

The Federal Nuclear Energy Act stipulates that the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant must be carried out within the framework of a public procedure. Accordingly, their operators are required to submit a decommissioning plan to the SFOE.

The documents listed may be ordered free of charge in printed form from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.