The Swiss have supported their nuclear energy.
Switzerland has rejected a proposal to introduce a strict timetable for the early closure of nuclear power plants in a referendum, with 54.21% voting against the initiative. Provisional results also show that 20 of the 26 cantons reject the proposal.
If this citizens' initiative, which was also supported by the Green Party, had managed to gather the necessary positive votes in the referendum, it would have led to the final shutdown of three nuclear power units next year. The proposal envisaged Beznau-1 and -2 and Mühleberg to be closed in 2017, and the two remaining nuclear power plants, Gösgen and Leibstadt, in 2024 and 2029. After this decision, the nuclear power plants would operate at least until the end of their design life, one of the advantages being that in this way they would be able to raise the necessary funds for their subsequent decommissioning.
Today's referendum is the seventh since 1979 on whether to phase out nuclear power and limit the operating life of nuclear power plants in the country. In each of the votes, the majority of votes were in favor of nuclear power. According to Michael Frank, director of the Swiss Utilities Association, the results show approval for the current policy of not introducing limits on the operating life of operating nuclear power plants. According to Heinz Karer, president of the Swiss Confederation of Commerce and Industry and former chairman of Axpo, the operator of the Beznau and Leibstadt nuclear power plants, limiting the life of nuclear facilities would be wrong. Hans-Ultrich Bigler, president of the Swiss Nuclear Forum, commented in a press release that the vast majority of the Swiss population trusts the operators of Swiss nuclear power plants. Last month, Energy Minister Doris Leuthard said the referendum was premature, saying that if it were to pass, it would lead to electricity shortages due to the country's inability to replace its decommissioned nuclear capacity with renewable energy.
About 33% of Switzerland's electricity was generated from nuclear sources in 2015, according to data from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
