Nuclear waste disposal in Switzerland: science, politics and uncertainty

Excerpt

In Switzerland, radioactive waste arises from electricity produced by five nuclear power plants and from the use of radioactive materials in the fields of medicine, industry and research. The waste is grouped into three categories: High-level waste (HLW) including spent fuel, Long-lived intermediate-level waste (LILW), and Low- and intermediate-level waste (L/ILW). It is foreseen that a maximum of 100,000 m³ of conditioned and packaged radioactive waste will arise in Switzerland over a period of 40 years. Based on current knowledge, geological disposal is the only method for isolating radioactive waste, which fulfils the requirement for long-term safety. Two different types of geologic repositories are foreseen in Switzerland: a deep repository at a depth between 400 and 1,000 m in the flat alpine foreland for HLW/LILW (accessed through vertical shafts or a ramp), and an intermediate-depth repository in the alpine belt for L/ILW (accessed through a horizontal tunnel). Recently it has been proposed that these repositories shall be built as monitored geological disposal facilities, where the backfilling of access tunnels is delayed for several decades. The behaviour of the safety barriers shall be monitored through long-term experiments in a so-called pilot facility, which is situated just beside the sealed main disposal area. …