Swiss Approach to NPP Backfitting after Fukushima

Soon after Fukushima a comprehensive review program was started in Switzerland covering the major issues related to the accident sequences in Japan. The topic addressed were those of extreme natural hazards, loss of safety functions and severe accident management. Within the cycle of continuous improvement prescribed by the Swiss law, the declared goal of the program was that of identifying possible weaknesses in the Swiss NPPs and, in such cases, eliminating them by hardware backfittings as well as improvements in the procedures and organisation. As described in the examples, in view of the variety of issues treated and improvements that have been identified and implemented, the conclusion can be drawn that the Swiss legal and regulatory framework has met the challenge of coping with the necessary post-Fukushima actions in a structured, balanced and effective manner. (author)