Federal Council wants to extend moratorium on fuel elements
The moratorium on the export of spent fuel expires in June 2016. The Federal Council wants to extend this by 10 years.
Spent fuel from Swiss nuclear power plants used to be reprocessed at La Hague (France) and Sellafield (UK) (separation of the materials produced during operation into recyclable fractions and high-, medium- and low-level radioactive waste). In 2001, the Federal Council proposed a ban on reprocessing in its dispatch on the Nuclear Energy Act (KEG). Parliament rejected a complete ban, but decided on a ten-year moratorium on the export of spent fuel elements for reprocessing. It did so to keep open the possibility of reprocessing if less environmentally hazardous and safer processes became available during those 10 years. The moratorium came into force on July 1, 2006, and will end on June 30, 2016.
Because improved reprocessing methods are still not available, the Federal Council again proposed a ban on reprocessing in 2013 in the dispatch on the first package of measures of the Energy Strategy 2050. The National Council and Council of States have approved the ban in the current parliamentary debate.
The consultations on the first package of measures of the Energy Strategy 2050 are expected to be completed by mid-2016. Taking into account the referendum period, the corresponding amendment to the KEG could therefore not enter into force until after the ten-year moratorium has expired (June 30, 2016). This would mean that reprocessing would be permitted again from July 1, 2016, at least until the new regulation comes into force.
To prevent this regulatory gap, the Federal Council is requesting the Federal Assembly to extend the moratorium on spent fuel exports by ten years by simple federal decree.
