Why Switzerland is busy repairing its vast network of nuclear bunkers

There’s no point in having a fallout shelter under your house if boxes of old Christmas decorations are blocking the door.

This is not an uncommon scenario in Switzerland, a country with a vast network of public and private Cold War-era nuclear bunkers, many of which double as storage units and have fallen into disrepair.

But a rise in global conflict, coupled with increasing reliance on nuclear energy, is once again setting the country up for a worst-case scenario.

Switzerland is spending 220 million Swiss francs (354 million Canadian dollars) to ensure its accommodation facilities are in top condition and can accommodate all nine million Swiss residents if necessary.

“Almost all Swiss people have an air raid shelter that served as a storage room for a long time,” said nuclear expert Stephen Herzog How it happens Host Nil Köksal.

“Now there are reasons to rethink that.”

Nuclear resilience “anchored in the Swiss psyche”

Herzog is a professor at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, and previously worked for the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Nuclear bunkers are “built into the Swiss psyche,” he says.

Under Swiss law from 1963, all residents of the country, including refugees and foreign workers, are guaranteed a place in a bunker to protect them from bombs and nuclear radiation.

“Generally, when you live in Switzerland, you know where your accommodation is, you know where your neighbor’s accommodation is and you have your assigned space,” Herzog said.

Some of these bunkers are part of public networks, but many are private and built under people’s homes.

“Over the decades since the ’60s, when it was mandated that these shelters be built into every home in these private shelters, they have taken on new meanings,” Herzog said.

“People use them as wine cellars. People use them as woodworking workshops. People use them to store Christmas decorations.”

When asked whether he had been in a Swiss bunker himself, Herzog replied: “Of course.”

“If you’re at a party and someone says, ‘Will you go into my wine cellar and get the next bottle of wine?’ You go to the shelter,” he said.

Prepared, not paranoid

But in recent years, global conflicts and changes in the country’s energy policy have changed people’s priorities.

Almost a third of Swiss electricity production comes from nuclear power. And this summer the country’s Federal Council reversed a 2017 decision to phase out nuclear energy.

Russia’s war against Ukraine – and those that followed Takeover of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant there – have also fueled nuclear fears in the country.

Louis-Henri Delarageaz, civil protection commander for the canton of Vaud, says his office received a surge in calls from worried residents about shelter following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (A canton in Switzerland corresponds to a province in Canada.)

“Suddenly … we were actually in high demand from people wanting to know: Where was the shelter, where is my place, is my shelter ready?” he said.

With this in mind, the government launched consultations in October to ensure “Switzerland’s resilience in the event of an armed conflict” and to plan the nationwide modernization of emergency shelters.

“In the coming years, the (Swiss) Confederation would like to remove some exceptions to the current rules and modernize some of the older accommodation,” Delarageaz said.

That means making repairs to public bunkers and ensuring there is enough space for everyone who needs it. It also means going door-to-door and inspecting private accommodations.

Last week in the village of Bercher, Reuters observed civil protection officials in orange jumpsuits inspecting a bunker under an apartment block.

One tried to push open the bunker door to lock it, but it wouldn’t budge. A vent wedged between plant pots and a stone ornament was thought appropriate, but an escape tunnel full of cobwebs led to a deep entry hole with no ladder.

“This shelter is not usable in its current state,” concluded team leader Gregory Fuhrer.

The owner has a year to correct the deficiencies, otherwise he will have to pay 800 francs (1,287 Canadian dollars) for each resident place in public accommodation, he added.

Herzog says this work is the result of an “increase in awareness and sensitization” of nuclear risks in Switzerland, but should not be confused with paranoia.

“No one is panicking because they’re going to need the shelters tomorrow or anything like that,” he said.

Delarageaz echoed that sentiment.

“This does not mean that we are preparing for conflict. That’s not the message. But we have a network of shelters and we have to maintain them and make sure they are functional,” he said.

“In Switzerland we have foresight… There is a Latin saying that says: ‘If you want peace, prepare for war.'”