The new Swiss nuclear dawn seen decades away, at best, by Reuters

By Emma Farge and Dave Graham

GENEVA/ZURICH (Reuters) – Bringing new nuclear plants online in Switzerland could take decades due to myriad political and financial hurdles, energy experts and politicians said, after the government announced plans to lift a ban on building new central.

The Federal Council on Wednesday reversed a 2017 decision to abandon nuclear power to meet climate goals and respond to geopolitical uncertainties such as the war in Ukraine, which fueled fears of blackouts in the country.

Nuclear power advocates welcomed the move, with Le Temps newspaper calling it “good news” given the global changes since Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident that prompted Switzerland’s exit plan.

But few expect change to come easily or quickly.

Stephanie Eger, a nuclear expert at the Swiss Energy Foundation (SES), said the process of changing the law, finding billions of dollars in funding, obtaining permits – while possible referendums by opponents – and building a plant would take probable. at least 35 years.

Subsidies would also very likely be needed, so nuclear advocates would need “a lot of stamina and deep pockets” to push through, Eger said, arguing that there are cheaper, more sustainable alternatives.

Currently, almost a third of Swiss electricity production comes from nuclear power, while hydropower accounts for about 62 percent, Swiss government figures show. Fossil fuels and renewable energy, excluding hydropower, account for only 9% of the country’s energy.

Andreas Pautz, head of the Center for Nuclear Engineering and Science at the Paul Scherrer Institute, a think tank, said the years it would take to lift the ban on new nuclear plants and obtain licenses would mean any construction was unlikely to start before 2040.

If that were to happen, with supply chain improvements and simplified regulations, commercial operations could begin by the mid-2040s, Pautz said.

Roger Nordmann, a federal lawmaker who opposed the U-turn, was more skeptical, seeing it last until the early 2060s.

“It’s a very long process and it’s going to be very hard,” he said, predicting referendums on three upcoming bills needed to authorize a new factory under Switzerland’s direct democracy.

Switzerland has decommissioned one plant and the other three are obsolete, built between the late 1960s and early 1980s.

Energy Ministry spokeswoman Marianne Zünd said it was too early to give an estimated date for new projects.

But current plants could continue to operate for at least 60 years, provided they meet safety requirements, she said.

Even if the government overcomes parliamentary opposition, pockets of local resistance may threaten progress.

Switzerland’s first planned reactor had a core meltdown in 1969, raising safety concerns that still linger. Another challenge is cost, with neighbors like France going billions of dollars over budget on nuclear projects.

“It comes too late,” said Greenpeace’s Nathan Solothurnmann. “And it’s a distraction because we need to focus on renewables right now.”