There are currently 4 commercial reactor sites in operation in Switzerland, with a total of 5 reactors, together with 6 research reactors. A new Nuclear Energy Act was approved in a national referendum in May 2003. An associated Nuclear Energy Ordinance, which removes an earlier moratorium on new reactors, underwent national consultation between May and August 2004 and was approved by the Federal Council on 10 December 2004. The Act and Ordinance became effective as of 1 February 2005. The Law also includes a 10-year moratorium on reprocessing of spent fuel, the establishment of a segregated waste fund and removal of the local cantonal veto in the repository siting process.

In Switzerland, the producers of nuclear waste are responsible for waste management. Hence the power supply companies involved in nuclear production and the Swiss Confederation - responsible for wastes from medicine, industry and research - joined together in 1972 to form NAGRA (the National Co-operative for the Storage of Nuclear Waste). NAGRA is responsible for final disposal and all related work. The responsibility for spent fuel reprocessing and transport, for waste conditioning and for interim storage remains with the utilities.

The regulatory body in Switzerland is the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (HSK) of the Federal Office of Energy (SFOE or BFE in German), itself part of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (UVEK). HSK is advised by KNE, the Commission on Nuclear Waste Disposal.

Most wastes are currently stored in the ZZL Facility in Wüerenlingen, which opened in 2001.

LLW Management
Because of the high population density in Switzerland, no shallow land burial is envisaged, even for short-lived LLW or ILW. It is currently planned to dispose of these in a cavern with access through a horizontal tunnel, in a suitable rock formation, at a minimum depth of 100m.

After a series of investigations at a number of potential sites, NAGRA submitted inter-comparison reports to the safety authorities and recommended selection of Wellenberg as sole candidate site, in late 1993. NAGRA submitted an application to the federal authorities for a general nuclear licence in June 1994, whilst at the same time establishing a specific company (Nuclear Waste Management Co-operative, Wellenberg - GNW) to carry out construction and operation, which must by law be based in the community chosen.

Also under Swiss law it is necessary to excavate a pilot tunnel, to provide information on geological and hydrogeological conditions, to assist in final design work, and to verify the safety analysis. Such a tunnel would later form part of the repository. It was also thus necessary to apply for a mining licence for the facility, and this was granted by the canton government in January 1995. However, this was not validated by a cantonal vote in June 1995.

Despite the establishment of a number of working groups to examine public concerns, GNW was unable to make any progress. A specialist group, EKRA, recommended in 2000 that the design be amended to incorporate the concept of monitored retrievable storage. Even the revised proposal was rejected by referendum in September 2002, and GNW is to be wound up and the Wellenberg site abandoned.

HLW Management
Spent fuel is currently stored in pools on-site at the NPP's prior to shipping overseas for reprocessing or to the Central Interim Storage Facility (ZZL) of ZWILAG.

After a thorough review by the safety authorities, the Federal Government decided in June 1988 that the safety and feasibility of final disposal for HLW had been proven. It is planned to have a repository active sometime after 2020. This was originally supposed to follow a successful demonstration of the concept in an underground laboratory at the final site. 2 disposal concepts have been developed, dependent on the final choice of rock type, although NAGRA favours the use of Opalinus Clay.

In 1980 NAGRA initiated a three-phase repository siting strategy. Phase 1 covered regional studies based on a single borehole and associated geophysics at selected sites. Phase 2 involves detailed characterisation of smaller areas, and Phase 3 would include shaft sinking and underground exploration. Although the Federal Government approved the results of `Project Gewahr' in 1988, which examined the potential suitability of crystalline rocks, they instructed NAGRA to look in greater detail at the potential of sedimentary rocks.

Whilst an experimental shaft is ultimately planned at any potential site for a repository, an interim laboratory, the Grimsel Test Site (GTS) has been in operation since 1983, situated 450 metres below the Juhlistock in central Switzerland. A second test facility, in OPA, has also been developed adjacent to a new road tunnel through Mont Terri, near St Ursanne, in northern Switzerland.

NAGRA submitted a comprehensive review of the suitability of the Opalinus Clay for deep geological disposal of HLW in December 2002. The 3 volume submission is called 'Entsorgungnachweiss-2000' and an English summary can be downloaded from the NAGRA website.

HSK established an international panel to review the reports. The study was also subjected to an international peer review by a panel established by the Nuclear Energy Agency. The panel reported in April 2004 that NAGRA had carried out a satisfactory study using state of the art techniques and that the government could use it to make it's decision.

In September 2005 the Environment Ministry announced the establishment of an advisory committee to monitor the repository siting process. There are 4 members, representing parliament, the electricity industry and environmental interests.

In March 2006, the Federal Office for Energy issued a draft implementation plan for the siting of deep geological repositories for all classes of radioactive waste. The plan is divided into 3 stages; in the first, NAGRA will identify potentially suitable areas based on various technical screening criteria. This would be followed by a short listing of suitable locations by negotiation between the federal government and the local cantons. The draft plan will be the subject of a phase of public consultation during the summer of 2006, with a final version expected by summer 2007.

On 29th June 2006 the federal government announced approval of the Entsorgungnachweiss report from NAGRA. Although this demonstrates the feasibility of developing a repository in the Opalinus Clay, the draft implementation plan takes precedence and it is by no means certain where any facility might be developed. The government has specifically stated that NAGRA must not conduct further research in the Benken area prior to agreement of the plan in 2007.