No abstract available

[en] Nuclear energy fulfilled the requirements which originated from the considerations of the fifties relative to a clean environment and electricity generation. Nuclear energy has contributed significantly to the reduction of the combustion of fossil fuels for heating purposes. Thus, the world-wide CO₂ problem has been mitigated. At the present time the future use of nuclear technology in Switzerland reduces the country's dependence on foreign countries. All nuclear energy solutions meet the important GEK-postulate 'provision', i.e. they facilitate long-term storage with few problems. The application of the pebble bed technique is now available and it contributes to the covering of electricity and heating demands. In spite of these convincing advantages further nuclear energy in Switzerland is virtually subject to moratorium due to a variety of conflicts. It must be hoped that calm consideration will eventually succeed. 10 refs., 12 figs

[en] Over the four-year period from 1983 to 1986, the nationwide seismic network, together with a local temporary telemetry array installed at the end of 1983, recorded roughly 100 earthquakes in the magnitude range between 0.9 and 4.2, located in northern Switzerland and the immediately adjacent region of southern Germany. Five of the earthquakes were sufficiently strong to have been clearly felt over a large area by the population. The seismic activity was concentrated mainly in the west, along a strip extending from the southern Black Forest to the Folded Jura Mountains, and in the east, in several locations between the Bodensee (Kanton Thurgau) and the Albis (Kanton Zurich). The activity was lowest in the central part of the region under study, with a total of 7 events, all having magnitudes less than 2. Contrary to most observations of seismicity in intracontinental settings throughout the rest of the world, focal depths of earthquakes are distributed throughout the earth's crust, almost reaching the depth of the crust-mantle boundary. Focal mechanisms derived from fault-plane solutions are mostly of the intermediate type between pure strike-slip and normal faulting, and are generally consistent with directions of the horizontal components of maximum and minimum compressive stresses striking roughly NW-SE and NE-SW respectively. In several cases, it was possible to apply a cross-corelation technique to the signals, to obtain highly accurate locations of hypocenters relative to a master event; in the case of six closely grouped earthquakes, located at a depth of about 23 km, the relative distribution of hypocenters coincided exactly with the orientation of one of the focal planes derived from the fault-plane solution of the master event. 17 refs., 60 figs., 10 tabs

[en] On the occasion of an open day for the press on 4. November 1992, the new director of the Paul Scherrer Institute, Mr. M. K. Eberle, gave information on the future orientation of the 'PSI' (Paul Scherrer Institute)

[en] The investigation of micro-earthquakes in a low-seismicity region is a well known method to provide insight into the dynamics of the existing neotectonic regime. Such a study supplies the largest possible number of earthquake recordings within a reasonably short time span. The region of Northern Switzerland is such a low-seismicity area for which at least preliminary scientific information on location and source mechanism of earthquakes is required by the end of 1984. For this reason, during the second half of 1983, a modern micro-seismic station network with 9 new stations was installed in Northern Switzerland with the aim of lowering the magnitude threshold for recording local earthquakes in this region to less than 1.0 (Richter-Scale). The present report is devoted mainly to the technical specifications of the new network and includes two recorded events merely as examples illustrating the recording and processing procedure. A comprehensive presentation of the recorded data will be given in a following report. (author)

[en] A withdrawal from nuclear energy is often demanded by the same parties who also demand full employment, better working conditions, higher salaries and increased social benefits. The demands are conflicting. It would be extremely risky for Switzerland to be forced into a supply bottle-neck. Economists should warn emphatically against such a development. The economy cannot retain its strength in international competition without a sufficient and reliable supply of electricity and with other energy at competitive prices. The employers demanded in their common declaration to the energy policy of September 24, 1986 that the necessary legal preconditions for a secure energy supply should be maintained

[en] This Ordinance (RS 732.11) repeals the 1978 Ordinance on definitions and licences in the atomic energy field with the exception of Annexes 2 and 3 and concerns in particular, the licensing procedure for atomic installations. It also regulates the export, import and transit of nuclear materials and equipment. (NEA)

[en] Statements of geological nature can be made on the basis of investigations of the bedrock exposed in southern Black Forest and these can, in the form of prognoses, be applied to the crystalline Basement of northern Switzerland. Such statements relate to the average proportions of the main lithological groups at the bedrock surface and the surface area of the granite body. Some of the prognoses can be compared and checked with the results from the deep drilling programme in northern Switzerland. Further, analogical interferences from the situation in the southern Black Forest allow predictions to be made on the anticipated block structure of the crystalline Basement. (author)

[en] 10^th progress report of the Government Working Group for Nuclear Waste Management (AGNEB) fulfils the obligation to submit a report for 1987 to Parliament. The responsibility for nuclear waste management was transfered by parliamentary decision, effective from 6 October 1979, to the producers of radioactive wastes. The right of the government to remove radioactive wastes at the producers expense is thereby relinquished. In Switzerland the research, development and project work for the final disposal of radioactive wastes is performed by the National Cooperative for the Final Disposal of Radioactive Wastes (Nagra). This private cooperative was founded in 1972 by the waste producers. The government sets the boundary conditions for waste management and is responsible for assessment and final authorization of waste disposal. 43 refs., 2 tabs

[en] It is stated that the development of nuclear reactors with a greater inherent safety, for example, the high temperature reactor (HTR) should continue. Details about HTR development programmes in the Federal Republic of Germany, USA, USSR, Japan and China are given. The Swiss nuclear program is discussed and details about the Swiss contribution to the development of HTR-500 are given. 2 tabs