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Nuclear power in Switzerland is generated by three nuclear power plants, with a total of four operational reactors (see list below). Since 1985, nuclear power has been contributing approximately 40% of Switzerland's electrical energy. In 2022, it produced 23 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, and accounted for 37% of the nation's gross electricity generation of 62 TWh, while 55% was produced by hydroelectric plants and 8% came from conventional thermal power stations and non-hydro renewable energy sources. [1]
Switzerland hosts several research reactors, including the CROCUS reactor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, which has been the country's only remaining research reactor since 2013.
Nuclear waste from power plants was processed mostly overseas until 2006. [2] Storage is done on surface sites as plans are underway to move nuclear waste underground. [2]
In 2011, the federal authorities decided to gradually phase out nuclear power in Switzerland as a consequence of the Fukushima accident in Japan. [3] In late 2013 the operator BKW decided to cease all electrical generation in 2019 in the Mühleberg plant. The structural design of the Mühleberg nuclear power plant closely resembles that of unit 1 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, albeit with minor differences. [4]
As of 8 December 2014, the National Council has voted to limit the operational life-time of the Beznau Nuclear Power Plant to 60 years, forcing its two reactors to be decommissioned by 2029 and 2031, respectively. A popular initiative calling for nuclear power phase-out by 2029 was rejected by voters in 2016; [5] however, on 1 January 2018 an amendment (article 12a) to the Swiss Nuclear Energy Act came into effect, prohibiting the issuing of new general licences for nuclear power plants. [6] Switzerland plans to phase out its nuclear capacity by 2044 as part of its Energy Strategy 2050. [7] However, as of 12 April 2024, nuclear power still generates a significant amount of electricity, contributing 29% of the country's total electricity of 66 TWh, hence generating approximately 19.14 TWh for the nation. [8]
In 2021, the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) confirmed that Swiss nuclear plants meet updated earthquake safety standards, ensuring resilience to rare seismic events. Assessments initiated in 2011, later updated in 2015, affirm their safety measures. [9]
According to a February 2023 poll, approximately 49% of the Swiss population supported the ongoing use of nuclear energy, while 38% opposed it. [10]
Switzerland ratified the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in March 1977, committing to peaceful nuclear energy use and subjecting its nuclear materials to international safeguards under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The corresponding Safeguards Agreement (CSA) was ratified in September 1978, followed by the Additional Protocol (AP) in 2005, which introduced further obligations. This legal framework was integrated into Swiss law through the Safeguards Ordinance (SaO) in February 2005, alongside the Nuclear Energy Act (NEA) and the Nuclear Energy Ordinance (NEO). [11]
Facilities under safeguards in Switzerland include nuclear power plants such as Beznau, Gösgen, and Leibstadt, along with the Mühleberg plant, currently undergoing decommissioning. Interim storage facilities for radioactive waste under safeguards are located at Beznau and in Würenlingen. Other safeguarded sites include CERN in Geneva, the research reactor CROCUS in Lausanne, various facilities at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, and the research reactor PROTEUS, which is also undergoing decommissioning. [12]
Switzerland has three nuclear power plants with four reactors in operation as of late December, 2019: (Beznau and Gösgen also provide district heating in addition to power production) [13] [14]
The Beznau reactors are owned by the Axpo Holding, that also control major parts of Leibstadt. Alpiq owns 40% of Gösgen and 27.4% of Leibstadt. [13]
In May 2017, Switzerland voted to phase out nuclear power in the country. [16] A timetable for the phase out of nuclear power plants has not been set. [17] The cost of decommissioning and waste management has been estimated at USD24.7 billion. [18]
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Extending across the north and south side of the Alps, Switzerland lies at the junction of the Apulian and Eurasian tectonic plates, and there are many active seismic areas under the mountains that show that stresses continue to be released along deep fault lines. The 1356 Basel earthquake is the most significant seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded history [21] and may have had a Mw magnitude as strong as 7.1. [22]
Between 2002 and 2004 a major study was conducted to assess the seismic risk to Swiss nuclear power plants. The PEGASOS study, which cost around 10 million Swiss Francs (approximately $11 million) and which was conducted by 21 European experts with American involvement, [22] concluded that the earthquake risk in Switzerland is twice as large as had been previously thought. [23]
In 2011, following the nuclear emergencies at Japan's Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and other nuclear facilities Swiss Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard announced on 14 March a freeze in the authorization procedures for three new nuclear power plants (see Politics ), and ordered a safety review of the country's existing plants. [24]
There was also concern in Switzerland over the seismic risks of the Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant, located in France approximately 40 km (25 mi) from the Swiss border. Following Fukushima the Swiss cantons of Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft and Jura asked the French government to suspend the operation of Fessenheim while undertaking a safety review based on the lessons learned from Japan. [25] On 6 April 2011, the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt went further and voted for the plant to be closed. [26] French President Emmanuel Macron announced in November 2018 the closure of Fessenheim's reactors, scheduled for 2020. [27] [28]
Radioactive waste from nuclear power plants is in the tens of thousand tons in Switzerland. [29] Its management is the responsibility of the producer. [30] Up until 2006, processing of nuclear waste was mostly done overseas. [31] A 10-year moratorium on its export was issued in 2006. [2] [29] Radioactive waste from nuclear power plants in Switzerland is stored on surface sites (mostly in the ZWILAG-building). [30] Plans are underway to move the waste to permanent sites underground. [30] [31] [32]
Switzerland's radioactive waste management is overseen by Zwilag, a company owned by the four Swiss nuclear utilities. Its central interim dry cask storage facility, ZZL, has been operational since 2001 in Wuerenlingen. Until 2006, Swiss utilities sent waste for reprocessing abroad but discontinued this practice due to regulatory changes. Currently, used fuel is either stored at reactors or transported to Zwilag ZZL. [15]
In Switzerland there have been many referendums on the topic of nuclear energy, beginning in 1979 with an initiative for nuclear safety, which was rejected. In 1984, there was a vote on an initiative "for a future without new nuclear power stations" which was rejected with 45% of voters in favor and 55% opposed. On 23 September 1990 Switzerland had two more referendums about nuclear power. The initiative "stop the construction of nuclear power stations," which proposed a ten-year moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants, was passed with 54.5% to 45.5%. The initiative for a phase-out was rejected with 47.1% votes in favor against 52.9% opposed. In 2000 there was a vote on a Green Tax for support of solar energy. It was rejected with 31% in favor to 67% opposed.
On 18 May 2003, there were two referendums: "Electricity without Nuclear," asking for a decision on a nuclear power phase-out, and "Moratorium Plus," for an extension of the earlier decided moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants. Both were turned down. The results were: Moratorium Plus: 41.6% Yes, 58.4% No; Electricity without Nuclear: 33.7% Yes, 66.3% No. [33] The program of the "Electricity without Nuclear" petition was to shut down all nuclear power stations by 2033, starting with Unit 1 and 2 of Beznau nuclear power stations, Mühleberg in 2005, Gösgen in 2009, and Leibstadt in 2014. "Moratorium Plus" was for an extension of the moratorium for another 10 years, and additionally a condition to stop the present reactors after 40 years of operation. In order to extend the 40 years by 10 more years another referendum would have to be held. The rejection of the Moratorium Plus had come to surprise to many, as opinion polls before the referendum have showed acceptance. Reasons for the rejections in both cases were seen in the worsened economic situation. [34]
On 10 June 2008, ATEL submitted an application to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy for the construction of a new plant in the Niederamt region (SO). [35] A further two applications were to be presented by Axpo and BKW before the end of 2008. [36]
In May 2011, the Swiss government decided to abandon plans to build new nuclear reactors. The country's five existing reactors will be allowed to continue operating, but will not be replaced at the end of their life span. The last will go offline in 2034. [37] In October 2016 energy companies formally withdrew their 2008 applications to build three new power plants. [38]
In November 2016, a referendum was held concerning a Green Party initiative that would have phased out all nuclear plants after a life-span of 45 years. [39] The three oldest nuclear plants (Beznau 1 and 2, and Mühleberg) would have had to be shut down as early as 2017, and every remaining plant by 2029. [39] The initiative was rejected by 54.2% of voters. [40]
On 21 May 2017, 58% of Swiss voters accepted the new Energy Act establishing the energy strategy 2050 and forbidding the construction of new nuclear power plants. [41] The strategy involves phasing out nuclear power, increasing reliance on hydroelectric and other renewables. Hydroelectric power currently supplies 60% of the country's electricity, while solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal generation is expected to double by 2035. No new nuclear reactors will be constructed, and existing plants will continue to operate subject to safety evaluations by ENSI. [15]
Dounreay is a small settlement and the site of two large nuclear establishments on the north coast of Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland. It is on the A836 road nine miles west of Thurso.
Chapelcross nuclear power station is a former Magnox nuclear power station undergoing decommissioning. It is located in Annan in Dumfries and Galloway in southwest Scotland, and was in operation from 1959 to 2004. It was the sister plant to the Calder Hall nuclear power station plant in Cumbria, England; both were commissioned and originally operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. The primary purpose of both plants was to produce weapons-grade plutonium for the UK's nuclear weapons programme, but they also generated electrical power for the National Grid. Later in the reactors' lifecycle, as the UK slowed the development of the nuclear deterrent as the cold war came to a close, power production became the primary goal of reactor operation.
The Lucens reactor was a 6 MW experimental nuclear power reactor built next to Lucens, Vaud, Switzerland. After its connection to the electrical grid on 29 January 1968, the reactor only operated for a year before it suffered an accident on 21 January 1969. The cause was a corrosion-induced loss of heat dispersal leading to the destruction of a pressure tube which caused an adjacent pressure tube to fail, and partial meltdown of the core, resulting in radioactive contamination of the cavern.
A nuclear power phase-out is the discontinuation of usage of nuclear power for energy production. Often initiated because of concerns about nuclear power, phase-outs usually include shutting down nuclear power plants and looking towards fossil fuels and renewable energy. Three nuclear accidents have influenced the discontinuation of nuclear power: the 1979 Three Mile Island partial nuclear meltdown in the United States, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the USSR, and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
Since the mid 1980s, the largest source of electricity in France has been nuclear power, with a generation of 379.5 TWh in 2019 and a total electricity production of 537.7 TWh. In 2018, the nuclear share was 71.67%, the highest percentage in the world.
Nuclear decommissioning is the process leading to the irreversible complete or partial closure of a nuclear facility, usually a nuclear reactor, with the ultimate aim at termination of the operating licence. The process usually runs according to a decommissioning plan, including the whole or partial dismantling and decontamination of the facility, ideally resulting in restoration of the environment up to greenfield status. The decommissioning plan is fulfilled when the approved end state of the facility has been reached.
The Beznau nuclear power plant is a nuclear power plant of the Swiss energy utility Axpo, located in the municipality Döttingen, Canton of Aargau, Switzerland, on an artificial island in the Aare river. The plant has been operating since September 1969.
The Gösgen Nuclear Power Plant is located in the Däniken municipality on a loop of the Aar river. It is operated by the ad hoc society Kernkraftwerk Gösgen-Däniken AG.
The Leibstadt Nuclear Power Plant is located near Leibstadt, canton of Aargau, Switzerland, on the Rhine River and close to the border to Germany. Commissioned in 1984, it is the youngest and most powerful of the country's four operating reactors.
The Mühleberg Nuclear Power Plant is a formerly operational nuclear power plant in the Mühleberg municipality in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. Operated by BKW FMB Energie AG, the plant generated power from 6 November 1972 until 20 December 2019. Nuclear decommissioning of the plant began January 2020 and is currently forecasted to be completed by 2034.
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Hunterston A nuclear power station is a former Magnox nuclear power station located at Hunterston in Ayrshire, Scotland, adjacent to Hunterston B. The ongoing decommissioning process is being managed by Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) subsidiary Magnox Ltd.
Resun AG was a company located in Aarau, Switzerland. Its purpose was to manage the construction of two new nuclear reactors. These are unofficially known as Beznau 3 and Mühleberg 2 from the locations where they should be built. In August 2017 the company was liquidated.
In 2008, nuclear energy provided Switzerland with 40 percent of its electricity, but a survey of Swiss people found that only seven percent of respondents were totally in favor of energy production by nuclear power stations. Many large anti-nuclear demonstrations and protests have occurred over the years.
The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate is Switzerland's regulatory supervisory authority for nuclear safety and for the security of nuclear installations; it supervises the nuclear power plants at Beznau, Gösgen, Leibstadt and Mühleberg, the research reactors at the Paul Scherrer Institute, the University of Basel and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, as well as the Swiss national central interim storage facility for radioactive waste (ZWILAG). ENSI's headquarters are located in Brugg in the Canton of Aargau.
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a class of small nuclear fission reactors, designed to be built in a factory, shipped to operational sites for installation and then used to power buildings or other commercial operations. The first commercial SMR was invented by a team of nuclear scientists at Oregon State University (OSU) in 2007. Working with OSU's prototype, NuScale Power developed the first working model, available to the US market, in 2022. The term SMR refers to the size, capacity and modular construction. Reactor type and the nuclear processes may vary. Of the many SMR designs, the pressurized water reactor (PWR) is the most common. However, recently proposed SMR designs include: generation IV, thermal-neutron reactors, fast-neutron reactors, molten salt, and gas-cooled reactor models.
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The electricity sector in Switzerland relies mainly on hydroelectricity, since the Alps cover almost two-thirds of the country's land mass, providing many large mountain lakes and artificial reservoirs suited for hydro power. In addition, the water masses drained from the Swiss Alps are intensively used by run-of-the-river hydroelectricity (ROR). With 9,052 kWh per person in 2008, the country's electricity consumption is relatively high and was 22% above the European Union's average.
This is a list of all the commercial nuclear reactors in the European Union and in Europe, with operational status. The list only includes civilian nuclear power reactors used to generate electricity for a power grid. All commercial nuclear reactors use nuclear fission. As of May 2021, there are 180 operable power reactors in Europe, with a combined electrical capacity of 159.36 GW. There are currently 8 power reactors under construction in Europe.
Rahmenbewilligungen für die Erstellung von Kernkraftwerken dürfen nicht erteilt werden.
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