Decommissioning of first Swiss nuclear power plant is on track

So far, more than 100 of the nuclear fuel elements have been taken from the Mühleberg power plant to a temporary storage site. © Keystone/Peter Klaunzer

The dismantling of one of Switzerland’s oldest nuclear power plants is making good progress, officials said on Wednesday.

The operators of the Mühleberg plant, BKW/FMBExternal link, said 102 of the 418 nuclear fuel rods had been transported to a temporary storage site in northern Switzerland, 30 months after the decommissioning process was launched.

The remaining 310-plus elements will be taken to the storage site near the German border by 2024.

The dismantling work is going according to plan, but it was slightly complicated by the discovery of asbestos in the building which dates back to the 1960s, a spokesman added.

Commercial and political

The Mühleberg plant, west of the capital Bern, is the first of five Swiss nuclear power reactors to be decommissioned. BKW/FMB said it wanted to cease operations at the plant for commercial reasons.

Following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan, the Swiss government in 2011 decided to opt out of nuclear energy production. Parliament approved the government’s energy strategy. However, no deadline has been set to shut down the remaining Swiss nuclear power stations.

Five years after the authorities took this decision, Swiss voters rejected a proposal by the Green Party to close down nuclear power plants after 45 years in operation.