On December 4, 1972, all producers of radioactive waste jointly founded NAGRA, the national agency for storing radioactive waste
Keystone
The Grimsel rock laboratory is opened in 1984. Here there are ideal conditions for a wide variety of experiments in crystalline rock.
Keystone / Str
Boreholes are drilled at Wellenberg in canton Nidwalden from 1987 onwards
Eth-bibliothek Zürich / Bensberg, Ralph
Public resistance is considerable. A planned repository for low- and intermediate-level waste is rejected in 1995 and 2002
Keystone
The Leuggern exploratory well in canton Aargau, near the German border, was drilled as the sixth well of the deep drilling programme in 1984. Even then, this triggered protests in Germany.
Eth-bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv / Dieter Enz
A NAGRA touring exhibition "Radioactive waste - where from/where to?" informs the public in 1993
Keystone
People from cantons Ticino and Graubünden, as well as Italians, protest against NAGRA drilling at Piz Pian Grand in Graubünden in 1990
Keystone
In Germany, people protest in 2010 against the final disposal of radioactive waste in Switzerland in the area near the border
Keystone / Walter Bieri
In the 2010s, NAGRA focused on sites in the Zürcher Weinland and in the Bözberg region of Aargau, as well as on the Nördlich Lägern region in canton Zurich. In the picture: Benken in the Zürcher Weinland.
Keystone / Martin Ruetschi
Since 2015 NAGRA has favoured the sites Zurich Northeast or Jura East. Nördlich Lägern will be put on hold. Vibration vehicles for 3D seismic measurements provide results on the geological subsurface. Photo taken at Zurich Northeast in 2016.
Keystone / Ennio Leanza
On September 12, 2022, NAGRA announced that by 2050 a deep repository for nuclear waste is to be built in the Nördlich Lägern region in the Zurich municipality of Stadel (back right)
Keystone / Michael Buholzer
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.