Radiological Protection Act
(RPA)

¹ «Ra­dio­act­ive waste» means ra­dio­act­ive sub­stances or ra­dio­act­ively con­tam­in­ated ma­ter­i­als which are not re­used.

² Ra­dio­act­ive sub­stances are to be handled in such a way that as little ra­dio­act­ive waste as pos­sible is gen­er­ated.

³ Ra­dio­act­ive waste arising in Switzer­land must, as a gen­er­al rule, be dis­posed of in this coun­try. By way of ex­cep­tion, an ex­port li­cence may be gran­ted for the dis­pos­al of ra­dio­act­ive waste if:

a.

the re­cip­i­ent coun­try has con­sen­ted to the im­port of the ra­dio­act­ive waste for dis­pos­al in an in­ter­na­tion­al agree­ment;

b.

an ap­pro­pri­ate nuc­le­ar fa­cil­ity meet­ing in­ter­na­tion­al stand­ards of sci­ence and tech­no­logy is avail­able in the re­cip­i­ent coun­try;

c.

trans­it has been ap­proved by the trans­it coun­tries;

d.

the sender has entered in­to a bind­ing agree­ment with the re­cip­i­ent of the ra­dio­act­ive waste, with the ap­prov­al of the au­thor­ity des­ig­nated by the Fed­er­al Coun­cil, to the ef­fect that the sender will take back the waste if ne­ces­sary.¹⁵

⁴ By way of ex­cep­tion, an im­port li­cence may be gran­ted for ra­dio­act­ive waste that does not ori­gin­ate in Switzer­land but is to be dis­posed of in this coun­try if:

a.

Switzer­land has con­sen­ted to the im­port of the ra­dio­act­ive waste for dis­pos­al in an in­ter­na­tion­al agree­ment;

b.

an ap­pro­pri­ate nuc­le­ar fa­cil­ity meet­ing in­ter­na­tion­al stand­ards of sci­ence and tech­no­logy is avail­able in Switzer­land;

c.

trans­it has been ap­proved by the trans­it coun­tries;

d.

the re­cip­i­ent has entered in­to a bind­ing agree­ment with the sender of the ra­dio­act­ive waste, with the ap­prov­al of the coun­try of ori­gin, to the ef­fect that the sender will take back the waste if ne­ces­sary.¹⁶