The Swiss government said on 28 August it plans to overturn a ban on building new power plants as part of efforts to strengthen domestic energy supplies at a time of increased geopolitical tension and population growth.

Energy minister Albert Rösti said the government would submit a proposal to amend nuclear legislation by the end of 2024 so it can be debated in parliament next year.

“Over the long term, new nuclear power plants are one possible way of making our supply more secure in a geopolitically uncertain time,” Rösti told a press conference following a government meeting.

Despite a long tradition of nuclear power production, Switzerland voted in 2017 to no longer allow construction of new nuclear power plants. That law was the result of a long process initiated after the 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan.