Switzerland to keep and/or expand nuclear power.

[NNadir]

Atomic energy remains on the cards for the Swiss after the government decided new nuclear power plants were needed to prevent a power shortfall after 2020.

Political parties on the left and ecological organisations have criticised the move, but business leaders and the right are generally satisfied.


"The replacement or building of new nuclear power stations is necessary," said Energy Minister Moritz Leuenberger in Bern on Wednesday as he presented the cabinet's new energy policy.

The government predicts that, due to growing demand, current measures will be unable to guarantee Switzerland's medium to long-term energy supply.

Switzerland is dependent on oil, gas and to some extent, electricity from abroad. Added to this, carbon dioxide emissions have to be reduced to meet targets set in the Kyoto protocol...

"We can't carry on as we have been up to now, otherwise we are going to run into supply problems," said Leuenberger. To counter this cabinet has chosen to focus on energy efficiency, renewable sources and large gas-fired power plants as well as nuclear power.

The energy minister described energy-saving measures as the key to securing Switzerland's long-term supply of energy. Energy efficiency saves money, improves the efficiency of the economy and acts as an incentive for investing in new technologies, he added...

...

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/detail/Government_sticks_with_nuclear_power.html?siteSect=105&sid=7551144&cKey=1172091633000

Switzerland once had a "nuclear moratorium," but it vanished into the pixilated limited confines of Greenpeace imagination sometime ago.

What is interesting is that Leuenberger, considered "center left" is calling for new natural gas as well and the right wing is opposing the gas.

May you live in interesting times...

It happens that anyone, right or left, who calls for the prevention of new fossil fuel capacity is correct.