Switzerland Calls Time on Nuclear Power

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- The nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan continues to cast a long shadow over Europe as Switzerland has announced its intention to ditch nuclear power completely by 2034.

The Federal Council has agreed that the country's four nuclear power plants (NPPs), which supply just under 40% of Switzerland's electricity from five reactors, will be shut down gradually. In March, the government suspended the approvals process for three proposed nuclear plants in the wake of events in Japan, claiming that it needed time to decide what was best for the Swiss people. For additional information, see March 17, 2011, article - Switzerland Halts Nuclear Plant Programme.

Introducing the decision, Swiss Energy Minister Doris Leuthard, explained: "The government has voted for a phase-out because we want to ensure a secure and autonomous supply of energy. Fukushima showed that the risk of nuclear power is too high, which in turn has also increased the costs of this energy form."

Switzerland has four operational nuclear power plants at Beznau, Mühleberg, Gösgen and Leibstadt, supplying 39% of the total electricity. According to the latest decision, Beznau I should be taken offline in 2019, Beznau II and Mühleberg in 2022, Gösgen in 2029 and Leibstadt in 2034.The cost of exiting the nuclear space is estimated at up to €3.1 billion ($4.4 billion).

"In view of the earthquake and the tsunami that devastated Fukushima, the government feels that the people of Switzerland would like to see a reduction in the residual risk associated with the use of nuclear energy," the Federal Council stated. "In addition, due to the expected increasing costs of generating nuclear energy (new safety standards, upgrades, revised liability risks, greater financing difficulties due to higher risk premiums for investors), its competitive advantage with respect to renewable sources of energy is likely to diminish in the longer term. The Federal Council is therefore of the opinion that the existing nuclear power plants should be decommissioned at the end of their safe operational lifespan and not be replaced by new nuclear power plants."

In December last year, the main Swiss nuclear operators Axpo (Zurich, Switzerland), Alpiq Holding AG (Olten, Switzerland) and BKW FMB Energie AG (Bern, Switzerland) agreed to join forces to build two nuclear plants with a combined generating capacity of 3,200 megawatts (MW).

Commenting on the decision of the Federal Council, Alpiq stated: "Until voters have had their say on the future of nuclear power -- which is unlikely to be for several years - Alpiq will no longer drive forward plans to build new nuclear power stations. Alpiq would have preferred Electricity Supply Variant 1, which proposed building two modern nuclear power stations in Switzerland to replace the oldest three nuclear power stations and compensate for the imports from foreign nuclear and fossil fuel power stations which will no longer be available when the current contracts expire."

Despite Alpiq's hope for nuclear power in the future, large anti-nuclear protests boasting more than 20,000 people in country last week, suggest that this could be the end of the road for nuclear power in Switzerland.

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