“Swiss reject quick exit from atomic power”

Swiss voters have rejected their country’s speedy abolition of nuclear power production, the news agency Reuters reports. In a referendum held on Sunday, almost 55 percent of voters opposed plans to shut down Switzerland’s five nuclear power plants. The proposal was rejected due to “concerns over losing energy independence” despite safety worries highlighted by the referendum’s initiator’s, Reuters writes. The initiative calling for a shutdown of the country’s nuclear plants until 2029 had been fought by the Swiss government and industry on the grounds that it would make Switzerland “more dependent on coal-fired power from neighbouring Germany”, according to Reuters.              

Germany’s example of exiting nuclear power production by 2022 had been discussed extensively in Swiss media in the weeks leading up to the referendum.

Read the article in English here.

For more information on the Energiewende’s impact on other European countries, read the CLEW dossier Germany's energy transition in the European context.

For background on Germany's nuclear exit, read the CLEW dossier The challenges of Germany’s nuclear phase-out.