challenge involved: even though the impressive structure is only around 4,000 years old, its meaning and purpose have been lost to time. Researchers are therefore working on nuclear semiotics, a form of expression intended for the inhabitants of the distant future, in the knowledge that human society in its current form may no longer exist in 200,000 years, and numerous ice ages may have resulted in glaciers shearing layers off the surface of the land in Stadel and reshaping it completely. 2011 marked the decision to exit nuclear energy Compared to all the protests against Nagra, reactions to the site it chose have been relatively mild. Even fierce opponents to the use of nuclear energy – including the Green Party and Greenpeace – admit that Switzerland has no alternative if it is to meet its responsibility and store the radioactive waste it generates as safely as possible. Another reason for this position is that Switzerland’s gradual exit from nuclear power has now been decided. In the direct aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster (2011), the Swiss Federal Council voted not to approve the construction of any new nuclear power stations. The dismantling of the Mühleberg nuclear plant, commissioned in 1972, has already begun. Although the remaining four nuclear reactors of Beznau I (1969), Beznau II (1972), Gösgen (1979) and Leibstadt (1984) are still running, they are slowly but surely reaching the end of their lifespan. Against this backdrop, many see the final disposal site as an estimated 20-billion-franc final chapter in the history of nuclear energy use in Switzerland. Or will new nuclear power stations be built after all? Politicians from the FDP (The Liberals) and the SVP (Swiss People’s Party) have been openly pushing for a loosening of the de facto ban on building new nuclear power stations. The construction of the final disposal site has influenced this new debate: considering the enormous cost of such a site, the question of just how affordable nuclear energy is at the end of the day has returned to the spotlight. Nuclear power stations themselves would have to contribute the money for the site to a decommissioning fund, and, like it or not, pass on the expense in the form of higher energy prices. An argument that seems to spring more from short-term thinking is that new nuclear power stations could reduce energy dependence on belligerent Russia: Switzerland’s current nuclear power stations rely to a considerable degree on uranium, supplied by Russia. For more information, please see revue.link/nagra Nagra website: www.nagra.ch dioactive material being brought to the surface - by anyone or anything - for around one million years. Lid on in around a hundred years The search for a final disposal site for radioactive waste generated in Switzerland has proven to be decidedly difficult. In some places, such as in Ollon (Vaud), angry farmers chased away the Nagra survey teams with pitchforks. Communities and cantons in other potential locations held popular votes that rejected the proposal. Stadel and the canton of Zurich, on the other hand, have basically run out of options when it comes to fighting the decision on the site’s location. This is because, in light of the tremendous amount of resistance, legislation was passed to impose strict limitations on communities’ and cantons’ ability to intervene in the issue. Nevertheless, now that the long search has come to an end, there is still a lot to do. Nagra must first apply to the Swiss federal government for planning permission for the final disposal site. This is scheduled to take place in 2024. Only if the federal authorities conclude that safely storing nuclear waste in Stadel is possible at all will the official location have been decided. This is not expected to happen before 2029. Then, Swiss voters will also get to have their say on the final disposal site. In other words, construction will not begin until 2045 at the earliest. The first steel barrels containing radioactive waste will thus be ready for storage in 2050. 2115 will then be the year for putting the lid on: the final disposal site will be sealed. Nuclear semiotics: talking to distant posterity Until then, Nagra still needs to find the answer to the question of how we can warn future societies of the dangers lurking under the ground in Stadel. It is a difficult one, as any warning signs erected today will have disappeared without a trace in 100,000 or even 10,000 years. The English megaliths Stonehenge serve as an illustration of the Switzerland began transporting its nuclear waste, sealed in concrete-filled steel barrels, across Europe via goods train in 1969 and dropped it into the North Atlantic. It kept up this controversial practice until 1983. Two symbols that anyone today would understand. But how can we inform future civilisations of the dangers? Nuclear semiotics is now in search of the answers. Swiss Review / December 2022 / No.6 14 Nature and the environment
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