18 Jun (NucNet): The Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) has begun a three-month public consultation on the final nuclear waste disposal programme proposed by national radwaste management cooperative Nagra.
Nagra’s proposal was first put forward in 2008, but SFOE said in a statement on 15 June 2012 that the public consultation is starting now because priority had so far been given to the search for candidate disposal sites.
In November 2011, the Federal Council (Swiss government) approved the six siting regions Nagra had proposed for further investigation. That allowed the start of the second stage of the government’s so-called Sectoral Plan for Deep Geological Repositories, which focuses on public participation.
The government is inviting comments on eight documents relative to the deep disposal programme. Besides the Nagra plan itself, they include positions taken by SFOE, the Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) and the Federal Nuclear Safety Commission (KNS).
SFOE recommended that Nagra submit the next periodical update of its repository programme in 2016 to allow “synchronisation” with a new forecast of decommissioning and waste disposal costs.
SFOE also said Nagra should draw up an estimate of the cost of eventual recovery of waste packages from the repository after sealing and closure of a repository.
A report on the consultation result will be presented to the Federal Council for approval in 2013.
The Federal Council said in 2006 that it is “technically feasible” for the country to safely dispose of spent nuclear fuel, vitrified high-level radioactive waste (HLW) and long-lived intermediate-level waste (LLW) from its nuclear power plants. The Federal Council also said that Nagra had proven the feasibility of disposal.
