National Council does not want to review framework conditions for nuclear power plant construction
Published: Tuesday, Jun 11th 2024, 13:41
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The National Council is not shaking up the ban on the construction of new nuclear power plants decided in 2017. On Tuesday, it narrowly rejected a postulate from the ranks of the SVP that wanted the Federal Council to examine the framework conditions for the construction of modern nuclear reactors.
The decision was made by 97 votes to 88 with 6 abstentions. The SVP and FDP parliamentary groups voted almost unanimously in favor of the proposal by Erich Hess (SVP/BE). However, the majority of the center party said no, thus following the left and green parliamentary groups.
A similar postulate was adopted in the Council of States in March. According to this, the construction of new nuclear power plants should be examined as a "possible scenario" to secure the electricity supply. The Federal Council is currently working on this. Motions to lift the ban on new nuclear power plant construction have so far failed in parliament.
According to the postulate now rejected by the National Council, the Federal Council should have examined what conditions potential investors in third- or fourth-generation nuclear reactors have to meet if they are planning a new construction project for such power plants.
The government should also have drawn up a timetable for the earliest date by which such a new plant could be connected to the Swiss electricity grid. What is certain is that Article 12a of the Nuclear Energy Act, which currently prohibits the granting of a general license for new nuclear power plants, would have to be repealed.
Federal Council decision soon
Energy Minister Albert Rösti requested that the postulate be rejected on behalf of the entire Federal Council. However, he repeated earlier statements that he was personally open to considering all technologies. "We should not play the technologies off against each other."
Rösti announced that the Federal Council would soon make a statement on the issue of nuclear power plants. The background to this is the popular initiative "Anytime electricity for everyone (stop the blackout)", which was submitted in February 2024 and calls for the ban on the construction of nuclear power plants, which was adopted with the Energy Strategy 2050, to be lifted and wants all environmentally and climate-friendly forms of power generation to be permitted.
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