Text in the figure: Project of the century – Your idea, our shared heritage.

Switzerland is facing a special moment: the deep repository for radioactive waste needs a name. Your suggestion could be the name! – Submit your name ideas now and you could win a trip to Finland!

Submit your name idea at: ….

Nagra is now launching a naming competition. But the final decision on the repository in the «Zurich Unterland» region has not yet been made. 

Naming competition

“The Swiss project of the century, ‘Deep Repository,’ needs a name—and you can help decide!” writes the Regional Conference of «Northern Lägern», the participatory body for the final repository, in an email dated August 26, 2025. It adds: “Give the Swiss deep geological repository a name – and maybe your idea will take you to Finland!” The search is on for a name that combines “responsibility, safety, and future orientation” and shapes “the identity of this unique project.”

Nagra also explains on its website: ”Step by step, we are working toward the realization of the Swiss deep geological repository. And the closer we get, the stronger the desire to give the ‘child’ a name. A name that comes from the population,“ reads the electronic Nagra News. 

The Finnish deep repository is called ”Onkalo,“ which means ”small cave“ in English, Nagra continues. ”What should the Swiss deep repository be called? “ The ‘Namensforum Tiefenlager Schweiz’ (Swiss Deep Repository Name Forum) is already collecting ideas. This is followed by a call to participate. If a name idea makes it into the top 5, the lucky contributors will win a trip to Finland. In a small jet.

Sharp criticism

Reactions to this idea were not long in coming. The Independent Swiss Deep Repository Monitoring Committee (USBT), led by physicist Harald Jenny, wrote on the same day: “The people of the «Zurich Unterland» region are being sold Switzerland’s most dangerous facility with a pretty label. And to top it all off, those affected are allowed to choose the name themselves – a cynical marketing ploy.” What is happening here, he said, is ”not a dialogue, but a PR maneuver.“ ”Instead of throwing sand in the eyes of the population, Nagra should examine real alternatives.“ The fact that not only Nagra and a well-known pro-nuclear communications consultant are on the naming jury, but also a representative of the Zurich Cantonal Construction Department, seems indeed strange. Indeed: the canton is backing a clumsy PR campaign instead of devoting itself to reviewing the process from a sufficient distance. This raises fears that the necessary distance between the project holder and the public sector is once again lacking in a risk project of this magnitude.

Rushed approach …

As has often been the case in the past, Nagra’s approach in this instance is also rushed. One wonders why there is such urgency. The review of the framework approval process by the safety authorities is still in full swing and is likely to take another two years, if not longer. It will probably be several more years before the review process is completed, the project is approved by the Federal Council, and a referendum on the final repository is held. Certainly until 2031.

However, Nagra is already certain that its framework permit application will be approved by the supervisory authority. With conditions, of course. This assessment is also based on historical experience. After all, there has not been a single final repository project in the last 50 years that has been rejected by the supervisory and political authorities. Even if such projects subsequently failed, such as the guarantee project in the crystalline bedrock of northeastern Switzerland in the 1990s. Or the Wellenberg final repository site in the canton of Nidwalden, due to its moderate geological suitability and strong resistance from the population.

In any case, by taking the step of naming the final repository, Nagra is signaling its willingness and determination to stake its claim and make the “Nördlich Lägern” site the definitive final repository. Its primary concern is to create a brand that will be indelibly associated with the further course of the project. A kind of flag, in other words, that can be used to promote the final repository.

… with an open ending

It is doubtful whether this plan will actually work. On the one hand, space for the two final storage facilities for low- and medium-level radioactive waste is already extremely limited. If Federal Councilor Albert Rösti’s plans to reintroduce nuclear energy are successful, there will certainly not be enough underground space for the entire inventory of nuclear waste. Then the search for a site will have to start all over again. 

On the other hand, it must also be expected that further geological and non-geological surprises will arise at the «Nördlich Lägern» site, which will fundamentally call the project into question. After all, scientific findings and technical progress and change in a century-long project such as Nagra’s are also likely to change fundamentally. This is already evident in current developments in transmutation reactors such as those being developed by Transmutex in Geneva. If the reuse and recycling of highly radioactive waste in such a reactor is successful in just under 15 years – which is considered realistic today – there would no longer be any need for a final repository for this waste. Low- and medium-level radioactive waste could also be disposed of in other, better ways. Nagra would therefore be well advised to work “step by step” on alternatives for dealing with the radioactive legacy so that it is not left without a final repository – but just with the brand “illusion.”