The National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra) has found it: Nördlich Lägern, the safest and most suitable site for the deep geological repository. In 2022, it presented the public with the results of an extensive search process over many years under the leadership of the federal government. At the end of 2024, it submitted the general license applications for a fuel element packaging facility (BEVA) at the site of the central interim storage facility (Zwilag) in Würenlingen and for the deep geological repository (gTL) with surface infrastructure in Stadel.
In view of the planned realization of the BEVA and the gTL, the companies responsible for waste disposal (EPU) have begun to prepare negotiations on financial compensation and offsetting (A&C) for the affected municipalities and for the region of the gTL. The procedure corresponds to the federal government's sectoral plan for deep geological repositories. This states that A&C between the municipalities of the gTL region, the siting cantons and the EPU are to be regulated in the current, final stage of the sectoral plan (Stage 3).
The negotiation process for A&K is conducted independently of the procedures for obtaining Nagra's general licences. swissnuclear represents the EPUs (Axpo Power AG, BKW Energie AG, Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG, Kernkraftwerk Leibstadt AG) and acts as the organization leading the negotiations.
The amount and payment modalities of the A&C will be determined in the negotiations. The voluntary payments by the EPU are made in recognition of the contribution to a task for society as a whole and are intended to compensate for any effects of the future gTL on the region, insofar as they are not already covered by statutory compensation.
Cooperation between the parties involved in the negotiations should be based on the principles of comprehensibility, transparency and partnership. These principles are reflected in the already good neighborly relations between the operators of nuclear facilities and their siting municipalities. One example of this is the Zwilag site agreement with the municipality of Würenlingen.
The recipients of A&K are the infrastructure municipalities and other municipalities in the gTL region within a so-called impact perimeter. This represents the area with a functional connection to the planned gTL.
swissnuclear has developed a two-pillar model for the payment of A&C for the promotion of regional development and the infrastructure communities. The aim of swissnuclear is a framework agreement and fully negotiated contracts for regional promotion and for the compensation of the infrastructure communities.
Over the past few months, swissnuclear has made contact with the parties involved in the negotiation process and held initial talks. The meetings to date have been mainly of an organizational nature and have allowed us to get to know each other.
Representatives from various municipalities, the cantons of Zurich, Aargau and Schaffhausen, the federal state of Baden-Württemberg and the district of Waldshut-Tiengen, the Federal Office of Energy and the EPU have been involved in the exchange to date.
In line with the guidelines jointly drawn up in 2017, the waste disposal companies are aiming to develop a joint, sustainable long-term solution. This makes it all the more important to carefully prepare the negotiations, which are scheduled to begin in 2025.
The two terms are defined as follows in the Sectoral Plan for Deep Geological Repositories:
There is neither a statutory right to A&C nor a statutory obligation. These are voluntary payments by the EPU.
The amount of A&K and the payment terms are the subject of negotiations. No details can be provided at this time. This would prejudge the negotiation process and contradict a sustainable solution worked out in partnership.
In 2017, a guideline was drawn up by ETH Zurich under the leadership of the SFOE and with the involvement of EPUs, cantons, municipalities and German stakeholders to regulate how the compensation negotiations should proceed. The guidelines cover various points relating to negotiations on A&C. Although the guidelines are not legally binding, they form a good basis and foundation for the upcoming negotiations, which can be used as a guide.
Information on the Sectoral Plan for Deep Geological Repositories can be found on the website of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE):
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