Swiss Nuclear Adviser Says Waste Management Cause for Concern

Swiss Nuclear Adviser Says Waste Management Cause for Concern

Apr 25 - BBC Monitoring European

The country's nuclear power plants have never been safer, according to the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate - but there is cause for concern. The inspectorate said no serious incidents were recorded in any of the five power plants during 2006, but its expert panel says that areas including waste management leave something to be desired.

Professor Walter Wildi, president of the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Commission, which advises the inspectorate, told swissinfo that 2006 was a "good year as far as radiation doses, production and failures or rather no failures" were concerned. However, waste management was less impressive.

"The main division for nuclear safety has published a new regulation on nuclear waste treatment and we found several points such as the lack of limits on the content of organic matter in this waste. This cannot be accepted," he said. The presence of such matter could have safety implications for long-term disposal solutions of waste produced by the plants.

The core of the problem, in the Commission's view, was that "we think the inspectorate's waste division did not regulate on this point due to the influence of the owners and the waste producers." This was, Wildi said, something that the public should be concerned about. "We have to be very strict about this. It cannot be accepted that the inspectors take orders from the nuclear power plant owners and waste producers," he stressed.

As to how the situation could be remedied, Wildi said that a staffing shortage within the inspectorate had to be addressed. "The waste division has perhaps five or six persons, which is very few when you compare it with Germany or France. This team is just too small. The inspectorate would most probably need an external review system that has real influence on it," he added. [Passage omitted - details on safety inspectorate's annual report, published on Friday, 20 April]