germany to end nuclear power , page-2

Also the Swiss recently made the same call.

From the Wall Street Journal.

ZURICH : The Swiss government Wednesday decided to exit nuclear energy by phasing out the country's existing nuclear plants and seeking alternative energy sources, in a response to security concerns following Japan's nuclear disaster.



Switzerland is the second country in Europe, after Germany, to drop nuclear energy as an electricity source after protests flared up amid fears that the reactor meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was hit by an earthquake and a tsunami in March, could be repeated elsewhere.

"The government has voted for a phase-out because we want to ensure a secure and autonomous supply of energy," Energy Minister Doris Leuthard said at a news conference in Bern. "Fukushima showed that the risk of nuclear power is too high, which in turn has also increased the costs of this energy form."

Switzerland generates roughly 40% of its energy from the country's five nuclear reactors. The rest comes mostly from the more than 1,000 hydropower plants located in the Alps and along Switzerland's rivers. Ms. Leuthard said the government hasn't yet fixed a date for when the last nuclear-power station will go offline, but experts believe such a step could happen around 2040.
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Resistance to the government's decision may be limited as the recent events in Japan have changed popular opinion, analysts said. However, before the government decision is finalized, the Swiss parliament will discuss the issue. Ms. Leuthard said a popular referendum on the issue also could be held.

Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development gathered in Paris that he was seeking a new energy policy that increased the share of green energy to 20% of total power supply by the early 2020s.

Mr. Kan said Japan aims to bring down the cost of solar-power generation to a third of its current level by 2020 and to a sixth by 2030.

"Our country will put all of our resources into making renewable energy a mainstay of our energy supply," he said Wednesday at a meeting commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Paris-based international body. His comments provided the most detail yet on the scale of renewable energy expansion that Tokyo is planning.

Switzerland's decision to discontinue the country's nuclear-power plants comes as a shock to Swiss utilities. Leading power companies Axpo Holding AG and BKW FMB AG had planned to build two new plants, and pledged to invest some $10 billion. The companies had said new plants are needed if Switzerland wants to avoid being dependent on expensive energy imports. The companies also warned that Swiss industry would suffer from high energy costs.

"The government decision will become a problem as far as supply security is concerned," said Axpo Chief Executive Officer Heinz Karrer. He called for an in-depth analysis of the government decision and said that the Swiss population should vote on the issue.

Industry group Swissmem, which unites more than 1,000 companies in the Swiss machinery and electrical-engineering industry, said the government decision "is questionable as there is no viable alternative to nuclear energy." Swiss lobby group Economiesuisse said the decision could hit the economy and endanger jobs in the country.

Ms. Leuthard said the government will invest in new hydroelectric plants but will also spur the development of renewable-energy resources such as solar and wind power to meet the energy demand. While she declined to provide an investment figure, she said that people and companies should also save more energy going forward and that Switzerland could consider tapping fossil fuels to meet demand.

"We want to send a clear signal to the business elite, the population and to investors," Ms. Leuthard said. "It won't be easy, but we are convinced that this is the right step and that it will pay off in the long term."

The government's decision comes amid antinuclear demonstrations countrywide. Some 20,000 protested over the weekend against the use of nuclear energy, citing the Japan disaster but also the lack of a viable storage facility for used fuel rods.

Finland is in the process of finalizing the world's first permanent storage facility. Plans in Switzerland to create a similar facility have been repeatedly shelved.

The country's five existing reactors have operating licenses that expire between 2020 and 2040.
�Alessandro Torello in Brussles and George Nishiyama in Paris contributed to this article.

Write to Goran Mijuk at [email protected]
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