The 49% figure was a significant increase from 44% in the 2022 survey. The survey said 43% support the country’s ban on building new reactors. Of those in favour of nuclear power 87% cited energy security as their main argument while 47% said it would help achieve the country’s climate objectives.
Half of respondents said they think that the population should have the opportunity to decide in individual cases whether a new nuclear power plant should be built or not, up from 49% in February 2022 but down from 52% in July 2022.
“The results of the poll show stable acceptance of nuclear energy among a large part of the Swiss population, and the absence of a majority in favour of banning construction,” forum president Hans-Ulrich Bigler said.
“This testifies to a certain skepticism among the Swiss on the question of whether the security of the electricity supply of the future and the climate objectives can also be achieved without nuclear energy.”
Despite a long tradition of successful nuclear power production, Switzerland voted in 2017 to no longer allow construction of new nuclear power plants. However, there is no clear timetable for shutdowns.
The Swiss Nuclear Forum said recently that calls by Switzerland’s Green Party for the early shutdown of Switzerland’s nuclear power plants are “nonsense” and “completely irresponsible”.
The forum noted that last year, Switzerland’s four remaining nuclear power plants – Beznau-1, Beznau-2, Gösgen, Leibstadt – supplied 37% of the country’s electricity with availability of over 90%.
After considerable investment, the 1,233-MW Leibstadt boiling water reactor unit set a production record in 2022. The 1,010 MW Gösgen pressurised water reactor unit operated safely and without incident for 322 days. Electricity production was interrupted only by a scheduled annual outage.
The Leibstadt boiling water reactor unit set a production record in 2022. Courtesy Alpiq.
