Whether in the USA, Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands or Japan: nuclear power is celebrating a comeback. But the German-speaking countries believe, for ideological reasons, that CO2-free power source to be able to do without.
Three years ago, the Mühleberg nuclear power plant ceased operations. Here is an archive photo of the opened reactor pressure vessel from 2010.
Support for nuclear power has never been greater in 15 years – at least in Sweden. According to a survey 59 percent of the local citizens agree that, if necessary, new nuclear power plants will be built. Another 26 percent are in favor of leaving the existing nuclear reactors online.
In addition to the impending power shortage and the strong expansion of solar energy, the renaissance of nuclear energy is probably the most important energy policy development of the year that is coming to an end. Recently, even Japan, where the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant happened eleven years ago, has changed course. In Nippon, existing reactors are to remain online for up to 70 years and new ones are to be built.
“No breakthroughs to be expected”
A rethink is also taking place in Poland with its many coal-fired power plants. Poland recently joined the American company Westinghouse ordered three nuclear reactors, which are to produce 15 percent of the electricity. The Netherlands are also planning two nuclear power plants, which should go online in 2035. In the US, finally, enjoys nuclear power Support from both political camps. Crucial to government support is that a technology CO2-is poor.
In Switzerland and Germany, on the other hand, ideological reservations stand in the way of a reassessment of nuclear energy. In Germany, the head of economics has just urged the government to keep the three remaining nuclear power plants connected to the grid for the next few years. In Switzerland there is no retirement guillotine for nuclear power plants, but new reactors are not allowed to be built. The sovereign adopted the corresponding article in 2017 in conjunction with the new Energy Act.
But the situation has changed. It is probably no coincidence that in Europe – with the exception of the hydropower country Norway – those countries CO2– produce poor electricity, which, like Switzerland, Sweden, Finland or France, rely to a large extent on nuclear power. In February, shortly before war broke out in Ukraine, Federal Councilor Simonetta Sommaruga presented the plans for gas-fired power plants that will supply electricity in winter when the sun and wind are almost absent for days. This strategy has been shaken by the war.
However, the Federal Council sees no need for a realignment, although there is a lot going on in the development of nuclear technology: “That Core technology monitoring shows that no breakthroughs are to be expected in the foreseeable future that would call into question the ban on new nuclear power plants anchored in the law,” says the first five-year report on the energy strategy. No wonder that research into nuclear energy is only being continued in Switzerland at a low level. If it weren’t for the Master’s degree in nuclear safety at the ETH, there would be no more young specialists.
Technology openness as an empty phrase
Institutes such as the Energy Science Center at the ETH are primarily researching what an energy system without nuclear power could look like. Perhaps a study would be appropriate that explores the possibilities of nuclear power for Switzerland.
Certainly, there can be no blank check for any technology. Cost and time overruns in the latest nuclear power projects and the outages in France are not a glorious day for the authorities and the industry. But is the hope of a hydrogen economy that much more realistic than building new nuclear power plants?
Most developed countries want to become carbon neutral by 2050. A key source of CO along this path2– to rule out free electricity was a decision that was perhaps emotionally understandable after Fukushima. But countries like Sweden and Japan are just rediscovering the advantages of nuclear power. In any case, the new Federal Councilor Albert Rösti should provide impetus so that “technology openness” does not remain an empty phrase for Swiss climate policy.