Swiss environment minister Doris Leuthard says the French government will provide Switzerland with a report on the safety standards at Fesseheim nuclear power station by the end of the year.

Following a meeting with her French counterpart, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, in Paris on Monday, Leuthard said a joint Swiss-French team of experts would evaluate the report.

“This procedure appears to be a completely acceptable and transparent,” Leuthard said. “Until we have the opinion of independent experts, there is no point in demanding the closure of this nuclear power plant.”

Fessenheim, located only 40km north of Basel, has been harshly criticised as being unsafe due to its age – it is France’s oldest nuclear power station, having been in service since 1977.

Criticism has mounted since the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. The authorities in northwestern Swiss cantons neighbouring France, as well as close by French regions have called for Fessenheim’s closure.

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative