By Marcos Buser

Between 2000 and 2013/14, Chairman of the Commission de suivi, the monitoring and supervisory commission for the Mont Terri Laboratory in the canton of Jura 

The significance of the Mont Terri Research Laboratory

The Mont Terri Research Laboratory has already weathered many storms. These turbulent times were repeatedly caused by power struggles or differing views on the management of the laboratory, the structure of the project, or the transparency of the processes: in short, on the governance of a unique research project that gradually developed from the 1990s onwards and grew into an unparalleled undertaking. The internal and external framework conditions, which were defined with foresight by the partners and the owner of the facility, the Canton of Jura, were decisive for the success of this project. The independent management of the laboratory by a federal administration, which was originally proposed by the partners and later requested by the Canton of Jura, was also particularly important. From the very beginning, the National Geological and Hydrogeological Service was involved in the project as the official authority with no particular interests. After various attempts by Nagra, the swiss nuclear waste disposal company, to take over the laboratory, which led to years of turmoil in the management of the project, swisstopo took over the management of the project in 2005. As the brief historical overview of the Mont Terri project attached to this article shows, this marked the beginning of an extremely fruitful period with concrete growth in the laboratory’s portfolio of tasks, partner organizations, and scientific significance. The Mont Terri project has since become a world-leading and recognized research project of which Switzerland can be justifiably proud. 

A bombshell

In an email dated May 8, 2025, the director of swisstopo informed the delegates of the partner organizations that the Federal Council had decided on April 30, 2025, to instruct swisstopo to transfer the management of the Mont Terri Laboratory to a third party outside the federal administration as of December 31, 2026. This was a bombshell of enormous proportions. The main factor behind the decision was the Federal Council’s mandate to the federal administration to cut costs. Swisstopo evaluated its portfolio of tasks and concluded that operating a rock laboratory was “not a central component of swisstopo’s future strategic development” of the agency. Swisstopo then proposed to the Federal Council that it withdraw from the management of the Mont Terri project as of December 31, 2026. At the same time, swisstopo informed its partners that it was working to find a new operator for the laboratory, to whom management could be handed over in 2027. He, the director of swisstopo, would attend the next meeting of the partners on May 13th/14th, 2025, to provide further information. That was the summary of the most important points.

This communication understandably caused consternation – among the partners on the one hand, but also on the part of the canton of Jura as the owner of the facility on the other. The respected Geneva newspaper Le Temps ran the headline “Everything is literally upside down” on the same day. RFJ, the regional radio station in the Jura, reported on the consternation that the news had caused among the Jura government and administration. The article in Le Temps also stated that the government had already contacted its four cantonal representatives in the National Parliament to take up the matter. In any case, it is clear that this email has explosive potential for Swiss research in the areas concerned.

Disrespectful and brazen

The Federal Council’s cost-cutting mandate to its administration undoubtedly presents many federal offices with considerable challenges and problems. There is no question that swisstopo has examined and evaluated various cost-cutting options in this regard. The office can also be credited with having the right to change its orientation and realign its strategic preferences. 

On the one hand, however, it is important to be aware of what the Federal Council’s cost-cutting mandate is all about: namely, the costs of swisstopo’s management of the Mont Terri project, which amount to around two million Swiss francs per year, of which approximately CHF 500,000.- Sfr. is for general costs. This is roughly equivalent to the personnel costs of eight to ten federal employees per year. It is therefore perfectly legitimate to ask whether there might not have been other ways of adjusting the personnel budgets of other departments in order to maintain the funds required to manage an international project of this caliber. With a little ingenuity and goodwill, this could undoubtedly have been achieved.

However, the management of swisstopo decided to quietly prepare and implement the aforementioned bombshell. If criticism is warranted, then it is for the way in which the management organized and orchestrated the withdrawal from the Mont Terri project. There were no prior discussions or consultations with the owner of the laboratory, the canton of Jura, or important partners in the research network. A fait accompli was created without even considering the consequences of the hasty withdrawal. The partners can demand that the research projects approved by the canton be completed. Who will guarantee the proper management of the laboratory after December 31, 2026, if no new management unit can be found? Has swisstopo considered that failure to fulfill the management of the laboratory could be enforced in court? And that the management of the laboratory should henceforth be taken over by an institution outside the federal administration? How is this to be done in a laboratory where both operators of final repositories and supervisory authorities work? Has swisstopo given any thought to the governance of such a complex project involving different players, which is extremely delicate in terms of the understanding of the roles of these players? And what about public perception: has swisstopo considered the damage that such an action could cause to the finances and reputation of its partners? Is this how you treat the owner of a facility when you are the tenant, taking them by surprise in this way, despite the agreement? As the tenant of the facility, is it appropriate to seek solutions for the future on your own, without consulting the canton and partners? It is hard to believe what a “monster” has been unleashed to cause unnecessary damage. There is only one thing to say about this: it is an incredibly disrespectful and brazen move that is unworthy of a federal office and is likely to cause considerable damage to Switzerland’s image among the international research community. 

Long-term significance

One particular aspect of a rock laboratory such as the one at Mont Terri deserves special mention: the long-term significance of such a facility. Many experiments are designed to run over long periods of time – even years or decades – so that the data obtained from the experiments can be transferred into reliable models. This research work is also linked (Figure 1) so that an overall picture of the development of a storage process in a potential final repository can be derived. The importance of this long-term aspect for safety models cannot be overemphasized. It is simply not possible to interrupt a research process for administrative reasons. To use a comparative example, you cannot simply stop a surgical procedure on a patient once an incision has been made. It is therefore difficult to understand how such an essential aspect could have been overlooked by the management of swisstopo.

Figure 1: Summary of important ongoing research areas in the Opalinus Clay of the Mont Terri Laboratory (below) and other important research (above), modified and supplemented, and presented according to Bossart 2014, from the report by Buser, M., 2014. Storage or final disposal: a status report for 2014. Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate ENSI

And now?

On May 13^th/14th, 2025, swisstopo’s management will attend the aforementioned meeting of partners in St-Ursanne. To explain itself. To the canton. To the partners. To the research directors. To justify itself for the cost-cutting mandate of two millions francs a year. To present its solutions for the future of the laboratory. How this event will turn out remains to be seen. 

However, the canton of Jura and its partners will have to consider whether and to what extent swisstopo can still be a trustworthy partner in the search for new ways forward. The lines are likely to be red hot. In this situation, it would probably be wisest to entrust a working group consisting of the canton and its partners with the task of developing models for future management by an independent body – as the Commission de suivi did in 2003-2004 (see the attached history of Mont Terri Project). In terms of the laboratory’s orientation, affiliation with a Federal Institute of Technology in the form of an annex would be a very interesting option. In any case, it should be a priority to take the fate of the project into the own hands. At the moment, only one thing is thus certain: this is a matter that will undoubtedly be pursued further. 

Reference for the historical analysis of Mont-Terri Laboratorium, French and English versions on the website of the Canton of Jura, Infrastructure Department/Mont-Terri Laboratory

https://www.jura.ch/DEN/SIN/Laboratoire-du-Mont-Terri/Laboratoire-du-Mont-Terri-un-projet-international.html