Switzerland's national radioactive waste disposal cooperative Nagra has today released a report on the advantages and disadvantages of siting a used fuel and high-level waste encapsulation plant at the planned deep geological repository site or elsewhere. It says the best solution would be to construct the encapsulation plant at either the repository or at the Zwilag interim waste management facility at Würenlingen.

France's Framatome has been awarded a contract by the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) to support research that will inform the development of new materials to be used in the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider, a major upgrade to the existing Large Hadron Collider.

The Mühleberg nuclear power plant in Switzerland today ended generation after 47 years in operation. Meanwhile, Ringhals unit 2 in Sweden and Philippsburg unit 2 in Germany are preparing to shut down by the end of 2019.

The operators of Switzerland's nuclear power plants have criticised a reform of regulations for decommissioning and waste disposal funds, which they say will disproportionately increase their costs and thus reduce their ability to invest in the country’s energy sector. The reform, which takes effect on 1 January, includes a reduced yield from the two funds and also removes a 30% safety margin.

The Swiss government has announced it will cut its greenhouse gas emissions to a net-zero level by 2050. According to Swiss government statistics, about 60% of Switzerland's electricity generation comes from renewable sources, most of it from hydro (56.6%). Nuclear contributes about 37.6% and about 2.5% comes from fossil fuels.

Framatome has been awarded a contract by Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken to modernise the reactor protection system at the Gösgen nuclear power plant in Switzerland.

EDF has agreed to sell its stake in Swiss nuclear utility Alpiq to the company's other major shareholders, who intend to take it private. The price for EDF's 25.04% share is CHF489 million (USD489.2 million).

Investigations in the three potential siting regions of Jura Ost, Nördlich Lägern and Zürich Nordost will continue in the third and final stage of Switzerland's search for sites to host two geological repositories, the Federal Council has decided.

Switzerland's phased withdrawal from nuclear power presents challenges for maintaining its electricity security, the International Energy Agency says in a report it published yesterday.

Switzerland's national radioactive waste disposal cooperative Nagra has been granted permits for carrying out the first three exploratory boreholes in its search for potential sites to host two geological repositories.

Swiss utility BKW has been issued with a decommissioning order for the Mühleberg nuclear power plant, which is scheduled to permanently shut down at the end of 2019. 

Swiss utility Axpo has received regulatory approval to bring unit 1 of the Beznau nuclear power plant (KKB) back into service this month after evidence it submitted last December proved aluminium oxide inclusions in the reactor pressure vessel do not affect the unit's safety.