From Easter marches to opting out of nuclear energy Opposition to atomic energy goes back a long way in Switzerland. It started at the end of the 1950s and culminated in the electorate approving the energy transition several decades later. The first protesters were pacifists and churchgoers opposing the Federal Council’s call for the country to acquire nuclear weapons. The annual Easter marches spawned new types of protest. 1969 was something of a milestone with the entry into operation of Switzerland’s first nuclear power plant in Beznau (canton of Aargau) and the serious accident involving the Lucens reactor (canton of Vaud). This turned the opposition against atomic energy for peaceful purposes, albeit only to a limited extent initially. River water cooling was criticised for overheating the water, as was – by the landscape preservation lobby – the construction of cooling towers. Resistance initially arose in the Basel region against the construction of the Kaiseraugst nuclear plant. After failing to prevent the reactor’s construction by legal means, people started occupying the construction site. A mass rally in 1975 saw 15,000 people converge on the site. Taking the fight to the streets ultimately led to the abandonment of the Kaiseraugst project. Fierce opposition to nuclear power stations also emerged during the mid-1970s. A number of anti-atom initiatives were presented to the people but narrowly failed to pass at the ballot box. The non-nuclear camp did experience success in 1990 following the Chernobyl reactor accident, when the public voted for a ten-year moratorium on the construction of new nuclear plants. However, this was not long enough to bring about consensus on the nuclear energy issue. It was not until 2017 that 58 per cent of the electorate approved the phasing out of nuclear power and the energy transition. (CF) be able to advise on the matter from summer 2025. Even if the initiative is withdrawn, the last word will most likely remain with the electorate. The left may well call for a referendum against revoking the construction ban. A successful outcome at the ballotbox would just create the legal conditions for new reactors. A new project would have to complete the process to obtain a general licence as well as gaining approval for building and operation. Each step in the approval process could take up to four years, so it would take 10-12 years until construction could actually begin. For decades, demonstrations and Easter marches were part of the ongoing and impassioned debate about the pros and cons of nuclear power. Demonstration at the Gösgen (canton of Solothurn) plant on 25 January 1976. Photo: Keystone Financing is another major hurdle to nuclear plant construction. The major Swiss energy companies have pointed out that the construction and operation of a new nuclear plant are not profitable under current conditions. It is practically impossible to build new reactors in other countries without state support. The pro-nuclear camp knows this and is already looking at funding programmes for renewable energies. They argue that the people and economy pay over a billion francs into the programmes every year and are thus entitled to a secure energy supply. The funds support climate-friendly energy sources, such as water, wind and solar. Atomic energy should also benefit from this funding, argue conservative energy politicians, much to the chagrin of the left, which fought for these subsidies. The withdrawal from nuclear energy proved a protracted and laborious process. The construction of new nuclear plants, if it even happens, also looks like being far from straightforward. Swiss Review / December 2024 / No.6 7
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYwNzMx