A report commissioned by the Swiss canton of Basel-Stadt , published in 2007 , concluded that the previous seismic evaluations undertaken by both EDF and , to a lesser extent , by the '' Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire '' ( Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety Institute , IRSN ) had underestimated the risks involved . In particular , although the location of the fault in the Rhine Rift Valley that led to the 1356 Basel earthquake was sufficiently well known for national and regional purposes , its location was not known precisely enough to evaluate a particular site . Studies conducted by other scientists have , for example , reached different conclusions about which faults might have been involved in the 1356 earthquake , its magnitude ( ranging from 6.0 to 7.1 on the moment magnitude scale ) , and the distance from the fault to the plant ( ranging from to away , compared to the distances of and used by EDF and the IRSN respectively ) . EDF also failed to take into account the possibility of a moderate local earthquake , which may have the potential to do greater damage than one which is larger but more distant , and the report was also critical of some aspects of the RFS 2001-01 assessment requirements . The report found that the design standards in force when the plant was built were similar to those that apply to present-day public buildings : the plant had been designed to accommodate movement , but it was not possible to determine whether or not the safety margins used would be adequate if a more realistic seismic evaluation were to be used
1356 Basel earthquake
1356 Basel earthquake
Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant