Switzerland declared on Wednesday that it was amenable to the construction of new nuclear power plants in the long run, given the current state of geopolitical unpredictability, climate targets, and increasing population demand for electricity.
In a 2017 referendum, the Swiss people supported the progressive phase-out of nuclear power by prohibiting the building of new power facilities.
That law was the outcome of a protracted procedure that began following the tsunami-caused nuclear accident at Fukushima in Japan in 2011.
However, following a meeting of the cabinet, Energy Minister Albert Rosti stated at a press conference that “since 2017, the situation on the electricity market has changed radically.”
Furthermore, last year voters backed a new climate bill aimed at steering the country towards carbon neutrality by 2050.
Rosti said new nuclear power was “not an option” in the short or even medium term.
“But to be ready, if it is necessary in the long term, in the next 15 years I would say, we must start now,” he stressed.
His ministry will submit an amendment to the nuclear energy law by the end of the year.
Parliament would then have to debate it and the public would have to vote in a referendum.
“We are not saying that in 10 years there will be a new power plant… but we are responsible for leaving the door open to all possible technologies,” said Rosti, stressing that if the process was not initiated now, it will “perhaps be too late in 20 years”.
The government stated that the affluent Alpine nation needs to be open to new technologies in order to reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and that the prohibition on new nuclear facilities was “not compatible” with that goal.
Approximately one-third of Switzerland’s total electricity production comes from the four nuclear power facilities that are currently in operation. For as long as they stay protected, they can run.
The government worries that renewable energy could not be able to fill the void when they inevitably have to close.
“At the time, we had imagined producing the missing electricity using gas-fired power plants,” but “this option has become almost unthinkable” to achieve carbon neutrality, Rosti explained.
He described the lifting of the prohibition as a “fallback option, just in case” for building additional nuclear power facilities.
Greenpeace Switzerland and other centrist, socialist, and environmentalist parties swiftly criticized the announcement.
“The construction of a new nuclear reactor will come too late to effectively reduce our carbon emissions and will not free us from our dependence on third countries for our energy supply,” said Greenpeace Switzerland.
