Last stop for nuclear waste before burial

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Transport and storage containers for high-level waste are stored in the container building at the interim storage facility ZWILAG in Würenlingen in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland. Keystone

Logo of the interim storage facility ZWILAG in Würenlingen in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland. Keystone

A truck delivers barrels with low active waste (LAW) from the nuclear power plant Mühleberg (left) and a driverless transport system carries a barrel with radioactive waste in a connecting tunnel. Keystone

Two employees walk through a connecting tunnel at ZWILAG. The plant manages low and medium-level waste, and, together with burnt and recycled fuel elements from Swiss nuclear power plants, stores them until they can be transported to the repository. Keystone

Danger signs on a container delivering barrels of low active waste (LAW) from the nuclear power plant Mühleberg indicate ADR dangerous goods class 7 for radioactive waste. Keystone

The telescope probe tip of a dosimeter, which measures ionising radiation (left), and the "hot cell" where fuel elements are transferred and storage containers are controlled and repaired. Keystone

An ZWILAG employee is at work inside the beta/gamma box where contaminated materials are taken apart and reduced to small pieces to prepare for melting. Keystone

The incinerator and melting plant, the so-called plasma furnace, at the interim storage facility ZWILAG in Würenlingen. Keystone

Engineers monitor the functions of the plasma furnace. Keystone

Engineers controlling the seals of transport containers for radioactive material (type TN81CH). Keystone

Barrels of radioactive waste await their transport to the storage facility for medium-level waste. Keystone

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In Switzerland, producers of radioactive waste are responsible for its safe disposal. The government wants to store the 100,000 cubic metres of waste in deep geological repositories. But first it has to go to facilities like the ZWILAG in Würenlingen.

Until it can be finally stored underground, radioactive waste must be kept in interim storage for 30 to 40 years until it has cooled down enough.

For low- and medium-level waste, an interim storage facility can bridge the time gap until the commissioning of a deep geological repository.

Treatment plants are available for preparing the waste for disposal in deep geological repositories.

All categories of radioactive waste generated in Switzerland are processed and temporarily stored at the ZWILAG facility and a federal facility close by.

The waste primarily consists of operational waste and spent fuel rods from the nuclear power plants, reprocessed waste, and radioactive waste from medicine, industry and research.

The nuclear power plant operators bear the disposal costs, which are fully covered by the electricity prices consumers pay.

(Images: Gaetan Bally, Keystone)