14 March (NucNet): The operator of the Mühleberg nuclear power plant in Switzerland is to appeal against a decision by the country’s Federal Administrative Court (FAC) to impose a time limit on the plant’s operation up to June 2013.
BKW said in a statement today that the court’s decision raises “fundamental questions” which must be clarified and after reviewing the ruling it has decided to appeal.
BKW said the appeal was necessary to obtain “the legal certainty” required for decisions on further investments in the single-unit plant.
In December 2009 the Swiss government approved an unlimited operational licence for Mühleberg. At the time BKW said it welcomed the move because it put all five nuclear reactor units in Switzerland on a par with each other.
But earlier this month the FAC lifted the unlimited licence and re-imposed the original 10-year licence, which means the plant can now operate only until 28 June 2013.
The court said the licence should be taken away on safety grounds, after opponents had lodged a complaint about the indefinite extension.
The court also said a “comprehensive maintenance concept” for the possible long-term operation of Mühleberg be submitted to the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications along with a new application to extend the operating permit.
But BKW said a general maintenance concept is already being drawn up with a view to the plant's long-term operation. That concept will address pending issues such as stabilisation of the core mantle and proof of the plant’s ability to withstand a combination of a once-in-10,000-years earthquake and the resultant failure of barrage facilities.
BKW said premature shutdown of the Mühleberg plant would entail “significant financial and technical implications”. The company said some three terawatt hours of electricity a year would need to be purchased on the market.
