Swiss government may move to eliminate nuclear power

[Playinghardball]

Source: Raw Story
By David Ferguson

Swiss energy minister Doris Leuthard is reported to be on the verge of introducing a motion to Switzerland's Parliament to halt development of new nuclear facilities and ban all such facilities in the future.

The Swiss government is expected to make an announcement on Wednesday regarding its plans for the future of nuclear energy in that country. Like Germany, the Swiss are rethinking their commitment to nuclear energy in the wake of the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima power plant in Japan.

Tsunami waves knocked out emergency power generators at the Fukushima plant, causing at least one of its three nuclear reactors to suffer a full core meltdown as the plant spewed radiation into the air and sea.

More at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/22/swiss-government-may-move-to-eliminate-nuclear-power/

[iwishiwas]

1. And as far as I know, the US will be putting more funding into

N. energy.

[FreakinDJ]

2. Like Germany ???? = German Nukes arn't going away

They are in maintenance shut downs - and once the price of electricity shoots up forcing the closure of factories and citizens "doing without" they'll start clamoring for them to reopen

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x295497

[Divernan]

3. Ah, but German nuclear plants ARE going away - by 2021 at latest estimate.

Interesting details are to be found in an interview with Winfried Kretschmann. He is the new governor of Baden-Württemberg and the first-ever leader of a German state from the Green Party. In a SPIEGEL interview, he talks about redefining economic growth, his plans to make industry more environmentally friendly and the IRREVOCABLE phasing out of nuclear power in Germany.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,763512,00.html

Kretschmann: It goes without saying that every new wind park has an impact on the landscape, but that's a completely different order of magnitude compared to the burning of fossil fuels to create electricity and the associated severe damage this does to our planet. Not to mention nuclear power, which creates waste that produces deadly radiation over thousands of years.

Kretschmann: I never said being a Green state governor would be a piece of cake. We can't deny that we have spent nuclear fuel. So you have to put it somewhere. I don't take the not-in-my-backyard approach. And surely there's nothing wrong with the fact that scientific criteria are being used to look for a suitable storage site across Germany. People who won't allow even that should get off their soap boxes and take responsibility. However, until the last nuclear power plant in Germany has been shut down for good, nobody is going to agree to a nuclear storage facility in their state. People have to be convinced that it's over and no more waste is going to be produced. Only then can you ask people to take spent fuel if a suitable geological formation can be found. After all, you have to put that waste somewhere.

Kretschmann: No. The last nuclear power plant has to be shut down irrevocably. We now have a tremendous opportunity to negotiate an agreement with the German government and the German parliament (and to) agree on an irrevocable phase-out of nuclear power. We have to seize this opportunity.

Kretschmann: Not at all. Our policies are sustainable and responsible. Even so, living in a democracy also means inheriting your predecessor's mistakes. Nuclear power is an example of this, and you have to be responsible about it. That's one of our core values. So we certainly can't avoid the issue of nuclear waste, even if it's simply an inherited problem.

____________________________
And don't forget, Angela Merkel is a trained physicist. When she takes a hard line against nuclear power, it means more than when some paid shill employed by the nuclear industry spouts off defending it.

[FreakinDJ]

4. Governors Do Not define National policy

Sounds more like a few nice words to placate his base

[Divernan]

7. His position solidly backs up Prime Minister Merkel's.

And his state is a major industrial manufacturing center. If you bothered to read his entire interview instead of making a shoot from the hip, de minimis reply, you could actually respond to his position with a substantive post.

Exactly what is your back story? Are you a physicist, like Merkel? Do you have a financial stake in the nuclear industry? Are you an employee? What is your expertise in this area?

[FLPanhandle]

5. If Switzerland and Germany were serious about the dangers of nuclear plants...

then they'd not only stop their own plants but stop importing nuclear generated electricity from France.

All they are doing is importing more and more nuclear energy from across the border and encouraging France to build more nuke plants.

[Divernan]

8. They are developing alternative power sources - which can take years

but at least they've started. Obviously, they cannot stop abruptly. Their decisions will have a strong impact on other EU countries. Unlike the US, citizens in France and the Czech Republic are willing and able to raise enough hell to force policy changes. In the meantime, Switzerland and Germany are distancing their citizens from potential meltdowns. FYI, I believe Germany also imports nuclear power from the Czech Republic.

http://www.fissilematerials.org/ipfm/site_down/rr04.pdf
France's La Hague facility (on the Normandy coast) is currently the largest man-made source of radioactivity releases to the environment. The global, collective dose over 100,000 years has been estimated at 3600 man-Sieverts. Continuing discharges at this level for the expected remaining years of La Hague's operation theoretically could cause 3000 additional cancer deaths over the long term.

Reprocessing also has significant impacts in terms of safety and security. The reuse of European power-reactor plutonium separated at La Hague results in an average of almost two truck shipments of separated plutonium per week from La Hague to the MELOX MOX fabrication plant at Marcoule, over 1000 kilometers (about 620 miles) away.

An overall cost-benefit analysis of spent fuel reprocessing in France would find that the economic, environmental, health, safety and security costs clearly outweigh the benfit of minor savings of natural uranium.

[hunter]

6. If a tsunami hits Switzerland we are all in some deep shit...

:scared:

[Divernan]

9. It didn't take a tsunami at 3 Mile Island - just human error