Switzerland’s national radioactive waste disposal cooperative Nagra has formally submitted a general licence application to the Swiss federal office of energy (SFOE) for the construction of a deep geological repository and a fuel element packaging facility in the alpine country, a statement said.

In 2022 Nagra announced it wanted to build the repository in the Nördlich Lägern region of the canton of Zurich and operate a packaging facility for fuel elements at the existing central interim storage site in Würenlingen, canton of Aargau.

Nagra said the application demonstrates that Nördlich Lägern is the most suitable site and that a repository constructed there can meet the highest safety standards in the long term. In addition, the application includes an outline of the basic features of the project.