Since the catastrophic events at the Fukushima plant in Japan on 11 March 2011, there has been a fundamental shift in the way the public regards nuclear facilities in Switzerland.

In 2009, as in previous years, ENSI rated the operation of the Swiss nuclear facilities as safe. Nevertheless, it was not an optimal year for nuclear safety. After systematic safety reviews at the Leibstadt and Mühleberg nuclear power plants, ENSI awarded both facilities a «good» rating.

On January 1st 2009, HSK became ENSI, the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate and at the same time the new body became independent of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. However, the remit of the new regulatory body remains unchanged.

Research into regulatory safety. In terms of research into regulatory safety, ENSI awards and coordinates research projects designed to identify and develop current scientific knowledge and expertise and to make the results available to the regulatory process.