Muehleberg nuclear power plant, peaceful protestors in 2011 (photo:©2011 Herbi Ditl on flickr)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – A European Union team of specialists has given the all-clear to Switzerland’s nuclear reactors for resistance, reviewing them on 37 points established in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima accident in 2011, but he Swiss government says it wants further reviews on 8 additional points.
The IFSN (Federal Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety) says it will not wait for the EU report to be concluded, but it including several points in a review the Swiss body wants to complete by June 2012. Key among them: knowing more precisely the core’s seismic resistance for each reactor. The IFSN in particular notes that the Wohlensee dam’s ability to withstand the kind of major earthquake that occurs every 10,000 years. It invited the Muehleberg nuclear centre in April to show proof of this by 30 November 2011, but it has not yet provided this and the IFSN is now demanding that the information be provided by 31 January 2012, as well as information on the seismic resistant of the emergency stoppage system.
The European Union’s list of safety checks focuses on earthquakes, floods, extreme meteorological conditions, electrical failure and crisis management. Switzerland is calling for further reviews to ensure the safety of rivers and streams below all the dams linked to nuclear plants
PARIS, FRANCE – An explosion at the Codolet nuclear power plant in the south of France, near Marcoule, early Monday 12 September killed one person and injured four others. One person is in critical condition.
The French government says there are no leaks or outside contamination from the accident in an area where nuclear waste is treated.
The explosion occurred at a furnace where waste is melted down. The plant treats very slightly and slightly radioactive materials.
©2011 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
Muehleberg peaceful anti-nuclear protest in May (©2011 Herbi Ditl, flickr.com/photos/herbivore)
Update 2 19:20 BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss ruling seven-member Federal Council Wednesday afternoon voted to end the country’s nuclear energy programme by 2034. The decision requires approval by Parliament.
Five existing nuclear power stations will be closed as their licenses, which will not be renewed, come to an end.
Europe finalizes nuclear station “stress tests”
The European Union, also Wednesday afternoon, put the finishing touches on its stress tests programme for nuclear facilities, to test their ability to withstand terrorist attacks and natural disasters. “The tests, which follow two months of wrangling, will also address resilience to more common threats such as forest fires, transport accidents and the loss of electrical power supplies,” reports The Guardian in the UK. Tests must begin by 1 June.
Switzerland’s Federal Council, in setting out its new 2050 energy strategy, will look to guarantee that the country’s energy needs are met through a combination of:
- greater economies through more efficient use of energy supplies
- developing hydraulic power and renewable energy supplies
- as needed, producing combustible gas for electricity
- imports.
The government has noted the urgent need to rapidly develop electricity networks and to increase energy research.
The WWF promptly issued a statement congratulating the government on its decision but noting that the parliament could take this a step further when it votes 8 June, in particular in setting an earlier date of 2029 to end the nuclear programme, pointing out that several environmental groups recommended this to the government in early May, outlining their reasons.
The council said Wednesday afternoon in its statement that it sees no reason to advance the date, and that recent checks on the safety of the plants shows they are very secure. The plants have a 50 year life and will come to the end of their terms in 2019, for Beznau, 2022 for Beznau II and Mueleberg , 2029 for Goesgen and 2034 for Leibstadt.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss media have widely covered the weekend anti-nuclear march in canton Argau, near the Beznau nuclear power plant, with what appears to be a consensus that the large turnout for the protest has put the government on notice. The march was the largest anti-nuclear show in 25 years.
The Federal Council Wednesday 25 May will review Swiss policy on nuclear energy, following the moratorium called by Energy Minister Doris Leuthard after Japan’s nuclear accident. The cabinet faces three options:
- the status quo, but replacing sooner than planned the country’s three aging nuclear plants
- not replacing the plants when their working life ends
- or calling a halt to Swiss nuclear energy.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s energy minister, Doris Leuthard, Monday told a press conference that she is putting on hold all plans for new nuclear energy plants until safety norms can be reviewed. The norms would be reviewed by the Federal Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety in the light of findings concerning Japan’s nuclear power plants and their safety following the 11 March earthquake there.
There are fears that the core at a Fukushima plant in Japan may be melting, with little water remaining and specialists fighting since Friday to cool down reactors.
Switzerland has three nuclear power plants that are aging and need to be replaced: Beznau in Aargau, Goesgen in Solothurn and Muehleberg in Bern. Voters in Bern recently agreed, by a narrow vote, to rebuild their plant. Voters in other cantons also have a say, and in Jura and Vaud, citizens go to the polls 15 May, to support or not plans to rebuild the plants. Geneva and Valais are considering similar votes.
The earthquake in Japan was 8.9 on the Richter scale, and Switzerland is considered to be at risk for an earthquake of 7 at the most.
Links to other sites: TSR (Fr), Le Nouvelliste (Fr)
Aerial view Cern - Photo Cern
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Cern (European Organization for Nuclear Research) and its two host countries, Switzerland and France, Monday 15 November signed a trilateral agreement covering nuclear safety. The new agreement replaces bilateral ones that Cern has had with each government. Cern has been required, until now, to meet with safety inspectors and meet separate sets of national standards, but the new agreement calls for a trilateral series of meetings to ensure that the research organization meets norms for both. The new agreement resolves a number of practical and technical issues, according to Cern.
Anti-nuclear hike Goesgen, Switzerland 24 May (image, Herbi Ditl on flickr)
Solothurn, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – More than 4,000 people gathered in Goesgen, canton Solothurn, in northern Switzerland Monday, for a peaceful protest against the continuing development of nuclear energy in the country. The protest had participants from 83 groups in Switzerland, France, Germany and Austria. One of their key points was that switzerland’s nuclear power plans are preventing the rapid development of alternative energy programmes.
Links to other sites: Greenpeace (Fre), RSR (Fre)
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva is calling on world leaders to develop new tactics with Iran, to engage the country rather than isolating it. Lula da Silva and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met in Brazil Monday 23 November and Lula, the rare leader to welcome Ahmadinejad, said in a joint press conference at the end that he supports Iran’s efforts to develop a peaceful nuclear energy programme. Lula’s background includes years as a union negotiator.
Geneva / Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Iranian Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that its officials will be in Switzerland Thursday 1 October for a six-party meeting “to discuss ways to end a standoff between the two sides,” according to the official Fars news agency. The Swiss government last week announced that it had accepted a request from Iran and the European Union to host a second meeting between EU High Representative, Javier Solana, and the Iranian chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili. Solana represents the world’s major powers in the talks over Iran’s nuclear plans: Germany, France, the UK, China, Russia and the US. The first meeting took place in July 2008 in Geneva. But Iran today said the meeting might take place in Geneva, as the Swiss government announced, or they might agree to meet in Bern, instead.
According to Fars: “Iran is under three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West’s illegitimate calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment, saying the western demand is politically tainted and illogical. Tehran has repeatedly stressed that it considers its nuclear case closed after it answered the UN agency’s questions about the history of its nuclear programe.”
Iran tests long-range missiles during two days of tests
Iran drew heavy attention from around the world Monday for testing long range missiles (2,000 km) that can reach Israel and US military bases in the Middle East, with France and the UK promptly expressing their dismay but Russia urging calm.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Sydney Morning Herald, Xinhua
and video, Russia Today
Title: IAEA conference on 50 years of fusion
Location: UN Palais des Nations, Geneva
Description: Major international conference on nuclear fusion, Int Atomic Energy Agency
Start Date: 13 Oct 2008
End Date: 18 Oct 2008
