Beznau nuclear power plant: Axpo pleased with Federal Court ruling

23.04.21 - The Federal Supreme Court has dismissed a complaint by private individuals and NGOs regarding the earthquake safety of the Beznau NPP. This proves that the Beznau nuclear power plant complied with the legally valid requirements at all times, even for very rare earthquakes.

The content of the complaint concerned the interpretation of limit values in a Federal Council ordinance. Contrary to current regulations and practice, the plaintiffs had argued that the limit value for the release of radiation in the event of a 10,000-year earthquake was not 100mSv, but 100 times less. This interpretation by the plaintiffs has now been rejected in its entirety by all instances.

In addition, the Federal Supreme Court also ruled on an earthquake proof for a more frequent, 1000-year earthquake. The Beznau nuclear power plant has successfully provided this proof, which goes well beyond international practice (in this case the release must be below 1mSV), and submitted it to the supervisory authority in 2020.

Axpo is pleased that the legal dispute that has been dragging on since 2015 has now finally been settled and that the validity of the limits has now also been confirmed by the courts.