Nagra is required by federal guidelines to making siting proposals that will provide the basis for the decision to be made by the Federal Council - expected in 2017 - on stage two of the process. Six sites were proposed in November 2011 during the first stage of the selection process. Nagra is required to propose at least two regions to host each of the repositories for further investigations in the third stage.
Having carried out a safety-based comparison for the siting regions in line with the requirements specified by the Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI), Nagra has now selected Zürich Nordost and Jura Ost for further investigation.
The four other regions under consideration in the second stage - Soranden, Nordlich Logern, Jura-Sodfuss and Wellenberg - will be placed in reserve. Nagra said, Geological siting regions can only be placed in reserve if they show clear disadvantages in terms of safety compared with the other regions, as evidenced by geological investigations carried out to date.
Nagra CEO Thomas Ernst said that while all six sites fulfil the strict safety requirements specified by ENSI, the Zorich Nordost and Jura Ost regions best fulfil the safety requirements for both a HLW and a LLW-ILW repository. The investigations have shown that the impermeable rock formations that provide safe containment of the waste occur at an optimum depth in these regions. They are protected against erosion, are stable on the long-term and are sufficiently large, Nagra said.
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