About us

Together with others, we are committed to passing on an intact environment and a safe future for generations to come. We are proud to be moving ahead with this project of the century for the disposal of radioactive waste.

Radioactive waste arises from the generation of electricity in nuclear power plants, during their dismantling and from applications in medicine, industry and research. The Swiss Nuclear Energy Act stipulates that the waste producers are legally obliged to dispose of this waste safely. This is the mandate of the Nagra Cooperative. Nagra stands for “National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste” and was established by the waste producers, i.e. the nuclear power plant operators and the Swiss Confederation (Federal Government), in 1972. The Federal Government is responsible for radioactive waste arising from applications in medicine, industry and research. For more information and details of how we are financed, see our mandate .

One team, one goal

To Nagra, people make all the difference. Our team is made up of specialists from the fields of natural sciences such as geology, physics, chemistry and biology as well as from engineering. Communication and journalism also play an important role. Staff members dedicated to operational and administrative tasks complement our motivated team. Nagra has around 130 employees.

We are also well connected to leading experts from around the world. This exchange helps us to cast a critical glance at our work and never stop learning. We are an interdisciplinary and highly motivated team dedicated to obtaining conclusive results.

We are professionally and diligently committed to the deep geological disposal of radioactive waste. We are proud to contribute to a safe future for Switzerland. Would you like to be part of this important project? Apply for one of our job openings and become a member of our team.

We value your opinion

The cross-generational project we are working on concerns everyone living in Switzerland. Open and transparent communication with you is very important to us. It gives us the opportunity to explain, for example, how we fulfil our mandate and what steps are required to achieve this. For this purpose, we publish our research results on our website under Publications.

We welcome questions. Dialogue with interested members of the public and people living in the vicinity of the potential repository sites is very important to us. How do you perceive what we do, and what are your concerns? Write to us and join the discussion – we value your contribution.

How we work

The goals and principles of our work are summarised in our mission statement (in German).

We have also developed a code of conduct (in German) that shapes our behaviour as an organisation and that of our employees, both inside and outside Nagra. Our code is based on the values of credibility, responsibility, transparency and professionalism.

Cover photo: Maria Schmid