Key facts
Until 2019, there were five nuclear power plants operating in Switzerland. In the same year, Mühleberg became the first of them to cease generation activities for economic reasons. The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) monitors nuclear power plants in terms of technical aspects, until the plants no longer present a radiation risk. To finance the decommissioning of the power plants and the waste disposal costs, the Confederation set up two independent funds under public law, in 1984 and 2000 respectively. These are run by the decommissioning fund for nuclear facilities and disposal fund for nuclear power plants (STENFO). The funds are financed by, firstly, contributions from the plant operators and, secondly, long-term returns on fund assets. Owing to the decommissioning of Mühleberg and the preparations for the decommissioning of Beznau, STENFO already made initial decommissioning payments to both operators in 2019.