nuclear-news

Move to close Mühleberg atomic plant, then Beznau

Future of nuclear plant on shaky ground  by Clare O’Dea, swissinfo.ch  Mar 7, 2012 The Mühleberg atomic plant near Bern will lose its operating licence at the end of June 2013 on security grounds, the Federal Administrative Court has ruled…. In its judgment on Mühleberg, the court said various factors imposed a limit on the plant’s viability, including the condition of the reactor’s core shroud, which has fissures in it.

Other security questions cited were the inconclusive evaluations on security in the event of an earthquake and the absence of a cooling system independent of the Aare river…. The court’s decision has been hailed as a victory by anti-nuclear campaigners who swiftly called for the same action to be taken for Switzerland’s and the world’s oldest nuclear power plant Beznau.

Greenpeace called it “a stage victory for the safety of the Swiss population”, while the anti-nuclear organisation Swiss Energy Foundation (SES) said the verdict was a slap in the face for the federal authorities, whose work had clearly been called in
question…. the lawyer for the group that pursued the case against BKW – more than 100 local residents and an environmental group – said the decision spelled the end of Mühleberg. “I do not think that BKW is going to make such an investment within a year,” Rainer Weibel told Swiss television.

Shaky ground With the future of Mühleberg now on shaky ground, the focus will shift to the Beznau I plant in canton Aarau, commissioned in 1969.

Critics say safety issues prove Beznau’s time is up, claiming the emergency power supply is unreliable, the reactor cover has corrosion problems and the steel container has cracks….
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/Future_of_nuclear_plant_on_shaky_ground.html?cid=32250844

March 8, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, Switzerland