Things are moving at full speed when it comes to nuclear power in Switzerland. While the Federal Council has just presented its counter-project to the pro-nuclear initiative “Stop the blackout” which will once again allow the construction of power stations in Switzerland, the “SonntagsZeitung” reveals that a new reactor will be tested in Switzerland from the end of 2026. It is the result of collaboration between the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the Danish manufacturer Copenhagen Atomics. The reactor, already built, will be installed in Villigen, in Aargau, where the PSI headquarters are located. A special enclosure will be built to surround it.
It must be said that the reactor is not very big. Once assembled, it actually fits in a maritime container 2.3 meters wide by 12 meters long, according to the manufacturer’s website. At full capacity, it could supply electricity to some 80,000 homes, according to the newspaper. The Danish company’s goal: to mass produce its prototype by 2030 and sell it worldwide. And if the test takes place in Switzerland, it is because in Denmark, it is prohibited.
But the project is already causing controversy in Switzerland. For Nils Epprecht, director of the Swiss Energy Foundation, these reactors are certainly less dangerous than those of current power plants. But their experimental exploitation is particularly sensitive, because experience is lacking, he believes. “And an accident can have enormous consequences for people and the environment,” he explains.
Already an arrest in Bern
The reactor should raise eyebrows in Parliament: in fact, national councilor Reto Nause (C/BE) has just asked, through an interpellation, for detailed information on its test in Aargau. In particular, he wants to know how the Federal Council “considers that Switzerland is affected by this prototype”. And he wants the government to tell him what the guidelines of the Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (IFSN) are for his authorization. Finally, he also wants to know if the building that will be built around the reactor is sufficiently safe.
The PSI brushes aside these arguments. Because the condition for carrying out this test is to be able to demonstrate that even in the event of a serious accident, “there can be no release of radioactivity greater than natural exposure to radiation”, explains Andreas Pautz, director of the Nuclear Technology Center of PSI. Additionally, it will operate at a power of only 1 megawatt for the test. That is a fraction of the power for which it is designed. “The radioactivity content is thus several thousand times lower than that of a nuclear power plant,” according to its inventors.
With uranium but also thorium or nuclear waste
Special feature of this new generation reactor: the fissile material is not used in the form of rods as in conventional nuclear power plants; but it is in a molten salt solution inside the reactor. This avoids the much-feared meltdown of the reactor, according to Andreas Pautz. Because if the temperature of the reactor becomes too high, a valve opens and the fissile material flows into a safety tank where it cools on its own. Another particularity: the Danish prototype can operate with uranium, but also with thorium, or even waste from traditional nuclear power plants.
