Nuclear Energy Ordinance
(NEO)

¹ The pro­tec­tion zone of a deep geo­lo­gic­al re­pos­it­ory must be defined on the basis of the re­port on long-term safety sub­mit­ted with the li­cence ap­plic­a­tion. The pro­tec­tion zone must en­com­pass:

a.

all parts of the re­pos­it­ory, in­clud­ing ac­cesses;

b.

the rock volumes that provide the hy­draul­ic con­tain­ment of the re­pos­it­ory;

c.

the rock volumes that sig­ni­fic­antly con­trib­ute to the re­ten­tion of ra­di­o­nuc­lides that could be re­leased from the re­pos­it­ory over the course of time.

² After is­su­ing the gen­er­al li­cence, the Fed­er­al Of­fice shall re­quest the rel­ev­ant land re­gistry to add the fol­low­ing note to the entries for the plots of land situ­ated with­in the peri­met­er of the pro­tec­tion zone: «Pro­vi­sion­al pro­tec­tion zone of a deep geo­lo­gic­al re­pos­it­ory». After is­su­ing the op­er­at­ing li­cence, the Fed­er­al Of­fice shall re­quest the rel­ev­ant land re­gistry to add the note, «Defin­it­ive pro­tec­tion zone for a deep geo­lo­gic­al re­pos­it­ory».

³ The de­cision on the re­peal of a pro­vi­sion­al or defin­it­ive pro­tec­tion zone is made by the De­part­ment. In the event of such a de­cision, the Fed­er­al Of­fice shall re­quest the rel­ev­ant land re­gistry to de­lete the cor­res­pond­ing note.

⁴ The De­part­ment shall is­sue li­cences for activ­it­ies that af­fect the pro­tec­tion zone. A li­cence may only be is­sued if the activ­it­ies con­cerned do not im­pair the long-term safety of the deep geo­lo­gic­al re­pos­it­ory.