The Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS) was signed by Switzerland on 31 October 1995, ratified on 12 September 1996 and put into force on 11 December 1996. According to article 5 of the Convention, three country reports were prepared and submitted to the IAEA with regard to the Review Meetings of the Contracting Parties organised in 1999, 2002 and 2005. A Swiss delegation participated in these meetings at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna. The present fourth report established by the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (HSK) provides updated information on the compliance with the CNS obligations. In addition, the report attempts to give sufficient consideration to the topics which aroused special interest at the third Review Meeting.

The comprehensive overview of the nuclear safety status in Switzerland (as of July 2007) is introduced by general political information about the country, a brief history of nuclear power and an overview of the Swiss nuclear facilities. In the following sections, which are numbered after the Articles 6 to 19 of the CNS, key aspects are commented to give a clear indication on how the various obligations imposed by the Convention are fulfilled in Switzerland. A list of abbreviations used in the text appears in Appendix 1.

An overview of the contents of the report and the conclusions about the degree of compliance with the obligations set out in the Convention is given in the „Summary and Conclusions“ section.