Country Report for Switzerland

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Activities of the national YG network for the time period given: 2009

Spring meeting at Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI)

On April 22nd, the SGK-YG held its annual spring meeting. Young employees of Swiss nuclear facilities got an opportunity to get an insight on current research achievements in fusion technology.

The day started with five lectures: After an introduction in fusion physics and the main goals of the ITER project, recent topics of research carried out in Germany and Switzerland for ITER and fusion in general were presented. A presentation about the challenges that industry has to face by participating in fusion projects completed the theoretical part of the seminar.
In order to get hands on the fusion technology, the participants visited the fusion research facilities at the Paul Scherrer Institiute in the afternoon.
                                                      
Young Generation Project 2009

On 25 September, the Swiss Young Generation Project 2009 was started. It is the largest training course offered by the Swiss Nuclear Society’s Young Generation Network. This is the fourth year running that the project has been organised, after achieving great success in the past. Ten young professionals from six companies and organizations met at the kick-off meeting at the Boettstein Convention Centre, next to the NPP Beznau, to work intensively on two main topics:

• Renewable energy, nuclear energy and CO2-emissions in Switzerland

• Final disposal in Switzerland

The two main topics were introduced by experts in their respective fields: Dr. André Vossebein, who is responsible for strategic energy management at the Axpo Holding AG, presented the future potential for Switzerland of various forms of electricity production and the effect that each has on the CO2-balance. Dr. Piet Zuidema, who responsible for technology and research at Nagra (National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste) presented the latest research status in Switzerland with regards to waste storage sites, as well as the political and public process that underpins their realisation.

Two working groups have been formed to present, over the next two months, scientific papers and presentations on each of the main topics. The experts supported the groups with their work. The finished papers were presented at the final meeting of the Young Generation Project, in mid-November and will be presented at the International Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC 2010) in Capetown, South Africa. In addition, two further presentations were made at the kick-off meeting in Boettstein: Corina Eichenberger, a member of the Swiss Parliament and President of the Swiss Nuclear Forum, gave an insight into Swiss energy policy and the future role of nuclear energy in the production portfolio. Dr. Bruno Pellaud, former Deputy Director General of the IAEA and former President of the Swiss Nuclear Forum, gave a lecture on the history of nuclear power in Switzerland.

Activities of the national YG network for the time period given: 2010

ETH Students meet Swiss Nuclear Industry

For the first time, the SGK-YG organized in cooperation with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) the event “Students meet Swiss Nuclear Industry”.

The main idea of this event is to bring together students with a nuclear background and high representatives of the Swiss nuclear industry. For this event, the SGK-YG offers a very good platform.

More than 40 master degree students met in an evening lecture: After the introduction by the SGK-YG and a professor, three representatives of the nuclear industry held a presentation about jobs and opportunities in their specific industry sector: The manager of the NPP Muehleberg for the existing NPPs, Alpiq’s nuclear assets manager for the Swiss utilities and the CEO of Resun for the new build project companies.

During an apéro after the presentations, the students had the opportunity to get directly into contact with the industry representatives.

Spring meeting at NPP Beznau

The Swiss YG held its spring meeting on March 19th at the Boettstein convention center near the NPP Beznau. The German YG was invited to join this event as well.

Under the headline “Presence and future at the Beznau site”, the 30 Swiss and German participants were informed about the new build project and its challenges.

After the welcome by the power plant manager, the participants could visit the NPP Beznau. An exercise at the control room simulator was a highlight: Under the guidance of operational staff, the group had the task to run down the plant in accordance with the manual after a scram.

On invitation of the plant manager, the YG finished the day with a dinner at Schloss Boettstein.

Enlarged board of SGK-YG

After participating in the YG Project 2009, Maria Anderson (Resun) and Paolo Mini (Axpo) supported the board of the SGK-YG a lot. Therefore, it was decided at the spring meeting 2010 to enlarge the board.

Now, both are members of the board of the SGK-YG together with Thomas Bichsel (President, KKG), Matthias Horvath (Enusa), Dragoslav Tanic (Alpiq) and Thomas Winkler (Alpiq).