The dismantling of one of Switzerland's oldest nuclear power plants is making good progress, officials said on Wednesday.
Thirty months after the decommissioning process began, 102 of the 418 nuclear fuel rods have been moved to a temporary storage site in northern Switzerland, said BKW/FMB, the operator of Millerberg. The remaining 310 elements will be moved to a storage site near the German border by 2024.
The spokesman added that demolition work was proceeding as planned but was slightly complicated by the discovery of asbestos in the building, which dates back to the 1960s.
The Millerberg plant, west of the capital Bern, is the first of Switzerland's five nuclear reactors to be decommissioned. BKW/FMB said it wanted to stop operations at the plant for commercial reasons.
The Swiss government decided to withdraw from nuclear power production in 2011 after the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Parliament endorsed the government's energy strategy. However, no deadline has been set for the closure of Switzerland's remaining nuclear plants.
Five years after the decision, Swiss voters rejected a proposal by the Green Party to shut down the 45-year-old plant.