Switzerland has been operating nuclear power plants since 1969, and since the establishment of Nagra in 1972, there has been an official programme for the disposal of radioactive waste in a deep geological repository (then called a “final repository”) in Switzerland. This programme began in 1978 with the “Entsorgungsnachweis 1985” (“Demonstration of the feasibility of radioactive waste disposal 1985”) and has now reached the “Deep Geological Repository Sectoral Plan”, with both advances and setbacks. But with one constant :
The implementation of the nuclear waste management programme in Switzerland has never been aimed solely at finding a solution that is honest, as safe and permanent as possible. Other priorities were always hidden in the background and determined the ongoing process.
As a result, the programme did not really make any progress, but was constantly getting bogged down in contradictions and getting lost in a new impasse. Whereas in 1978 the aim was to open a final repository in the early 1990s, today it is supposed to take until 2050 or 2060, and even these deadlines seem unrealistic.
For the authors of this blog, this approach shows a lack of sense of responsibility of our society and our country towards future generations. We would like to respond to this with a platform that is committed to providing unfiltered information and allowing an open exchange. Transparency, foresight and action should therefore be encouraged, in the sole interest of finding the safest and most permanent solution possible for the disposal of radioactive waste.