Green light for Nagra’s information tours

Nagra’s information tours are legal and no proceedings will be opened: this is the conclusion of preliminary investigations by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. According to the Office of the Attorney General, the criminal offences of granting and accepting advantages are “clearly not fulfilled”.

Following an anonymous complaint, the Office of the Attorney General carried out preliminary investigations last summer and Nagra suspended the two fact-finding missions planned for 2018.

The Office of the Attorney General has now reached the conclusion that Nagra’s fact-finding missions are legal. According to the decision of the Office, the offences of granting and accepting advantages are “clearly not fulfilled”. Therefore, no proceedings will be opened. “The clarification of the legality of the trips by the Office of the Attorney General was also in Nagra’s interest,” says Thomas Ernst, Chief Executive Officer of Nagra. The information tours are mentioned in the legally prescribed Waste Management Programme, which describes Nagra’s activities. The Programme is approved by the Federal Council every five years.

Part of the information concept

Nagra believes it has a responsibility to inform the public and, in particular, politicians about the topic of nuclear waste management – at national, cantonal and municipal level. Information tours are part of Nagra’s information concept as described in the Waste Management Programme. The suspended tours will be resumed next year. Nagra will report on this in more detail in the future.

Nagra has been organising the fact-finding trips since the 1980s. All members of the Swiss Parliament, irrespective of party affiliation, members of the regional conferences of the potential siting regions (invitations are sent to the head offices of the regional conferences), members of cantonal parliaments and municipal authorities from potential siting regions are invited, as are members of associations and other interested parties.

Participants from the entire political spectrum

Participants from the entire political spectrum are given the opportunity to inform themselves on site about the disposal concepts of other countries and their experiences. Concrete projects such as those in Germany and Sweden cannot yet be visited in Switzerland. Nagra bears the costs of the two- to three-day trips. Due to the packed programme, participants have no free time at their disposal and no opportunity to visit cultural or tourist sites or events. The trips are also accompanied by a representative of each of the federal authorities (SFOE, ENSI) as experts.

Further information: Patrick Studer, Head Media Service: medien@nagra.ch or tel. 076 579 36 50.

According to Swiss nuclear energy legislation, the producers of radioactive waste are responsible for its safe management and disposal. In 1972, the Federal Government and the nuclear power plant operators set up the National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra) to perform this task. Nagra, which has its headquarters in Wettingen (AG), is the national technical competence centre in the field of deep geological disposal of radioactive waste.

Out of a strong sense of responsibility for the long-term protection of man and the environment, 120 employees are involved daily in performing this important work. The high level of competence is secured by targeted research programmes in two Swiss underground rock laboratories and intensive international collaboration.