Swiss utility BKW on 21 June was issued with a decommissioning order for the Mühleberg NPP, which is scheduled to permanently shut down at the end of 2019. The single 372MWe boiling water reactor, which began operating in 1972, will be the first Swiss NPP to be decommissioned. The Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (Detec) ordered the decommissioning work to be carried out in accordance with a decommissioning plan submitted by BKW in 2015, including defuelling of the reactor. In addition, various requirements will have to be met, in particular the technical, organisational and procedural conditions laid down by the Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (Ensi) in its August 2017 report.
Planning for the closure and subsequent dismantling is already well advanced, said BKW, and financing for decommissioning and waste disposal is also ensured. BKW is fully responsible for the costs and has made the necessary provisions, paying funds into the decommissioning and disposal fund controlled by the Confederation. Detec also requires BKW to submit a decommissioning project for the conventional decommissioning of the plant to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) by the end of 2027 at the latest.
BKW announced in late 2013 that Mühleberg would be permanently shut down on 20 December 2019 instead 2022, as previously planned, because of "uncertainty surrounding political and regulatory trends". BKW noted that the shutdown date assumes that "the legal framework necessary to begin immediate dismantling is implemented". One of the prerequisites is obtaining the necessary decommissioning permit from Ensi.
