Swiss Suspend Nuclear Plant Replacements Approvals After Japan Crisis

(Reuters) - Swiss Energy Minister Doris Leuthard has suspended the approvals process for three nuclear power stations so safety standards can be revisted after the crisis in Japan.

"Safety is our first priority," Leuthard said in a statement on Monday.

Switzerland's five existing nuclear reactors generate about 40 percent of the country's electricity but some will have to be retired in coming years. Decisions on sites for new plants had expected to be made in mid-2012.

The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate ENSI has been requested to do safety checks at the existing plants, the Swiss department of the environment, transport, energy and communications said in the statement.

Swiss utility companies Axpo, Alpiq (ALPH.S) and BKW (BKWN.S) said in December they would club together in their plans to build two new nuclear power to replace existing capacity.

(Reporting by Katie Reid)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Bernique]

09:02 PM on 03/14/2011

What is sick is that after a very short while "nuclear power" will be deemed safe and "essential" [the French], and the nuclear industrial complex will be back to normal.

We had Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Three-Mile-Island, Chernobyl, and now Japan in technicolor, and we will still fall for the line that "nuclear power is safe"?

I'm so glad that Vermont is decertifying or whatever the garotte term is for "40 years is enough" for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear power plant.

Solar, geothermal, wind, tidal ... so many other alternative energy sources we should have developed decades ago.

Ah, but Reagan he had to take down those solar panels from the White House because ... he could, just to spite his predecessor, Jimmy Carter. What a poor choice THAT was. Spiting your planet for petty jealousy. How small and how disastrous.

[JackVykios]

08:56 AM on 03/15/2011

Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened because they had nuclear bombs dropped on them with the specific intention of exploding. Nuclear Bombs =/= Nuclear Power Plants.
Three mile island, Chernobyl and Japan all have incredibly outdated reactors, having been built within 10 years of each other nearing on 40 years ago, and the one in Japan was hit by a tsunami. Chernobyl was actually unstable on a lot of counts and shouldn't have been allowed to operate in the first place. New ones won't have those faults.
Those alternative power sources don't provide enough energy and take up too much space. We should be focusing on nuclear energy, and we should be taking all the money we're wasting on that crap and investing it in developing a reactor that can generate a sustained fusion reaction, not just pleasing the hippies, since all current sources of energy will become effectively obsolete by the time we've reached that milestone.

[fairywhatnot]

03:04 PM on 03/14/2011

You guys making fun of Switzerland: Did you know that the country is about the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined? Did you know that in that tiny area they have about 8 million people?
NH has about 1.5 million, Vermont less than 1 million.

Now, take THOSE statistics into account and also the fact that they have five nuclear reactors in VERY close proximity to MAJOR population centers - it is NORMAL that they would want to check and re-check whether they have the latest safety regulations/implementations!

[albar]

01:47 PM on 03/14/2011

Die Schweiz, Switzerland for us, creates 40% of their electricity with nuclear reactors, which are in an earth quake free, tsunami free and not withstanding a few avalanches off their mountains region.

It's an utterly short sighted decision to suspend the further development of alternative energy. Of course, her demand for energy is by far not as high as in other countries, but they always would be able to sell over production to neighboring countries

[omobob]

01:37 PM on 03/14/2011

Earthquakes in Switzerland? Lake Geneva coiuld be a problem. Better safe than sorry. Meanwhile out here in California we are restocking out earthquake supplies. to each his own.

Honey, where are the flashlights, ouch, Darn.

[Scalian]

12:42 PM on 03/14/2011

Good move, Switzerland has long been a hotbed of tsunami activity. Let just keep burning all those fossil fuels because we can't make nuclear plants perfectly safe. My question is, what is perfectly safe?

[Max Shaw]

12:14 PM on 03/14/2011

Sounds like the Swiss have some sensible scientists. We should extradite some to try and talk some sense into our own.

[Deparis]

12:04 PM on 03/14/2011

I say shelve the whole thing, don't just suspend it or at least suspend it permanently.

[Deparis]

12:00 PM on 03/14/2011

There is no such thing as "safety" about nuclear power, it is a mirage. Any minor mistake can result in a disaster of grand proportion; lest we forget, no human work is perfect.

[JackVykios]

08:58 AM on 03/15/2011

Did you learn that on The Simpsons?

[Deparis]

11:33 AM on 03/15/2011

I don't watch The Simpsons. Why?

[lunarsnare]

11:38 AM on 03/14/2011

LOL Switzerland stores nuclear waste from France.

[sillyfrog]

12:49 PM on 03/14/2011

I can't see the humor.

[fairywhatnot]

03:05 PM on 03/14/2011

Ditto here!

[smokeystover39]

11:35 AM on 03/14/2011

Let's see......Can anyone name BO's latest best corporate bunk buddy whose corporation produced the vast majority of the failed reactors in Japan? If you get the answer to this compound question, then you'll know why BO pimped nuclear power in his $tate of the Union. Answers: Jeff Imelt and GE. Perhaps Joe Wilson was right.

[faith]

12:01 PM on 03/14/2011

No engineering feat can protect a nuclear plant from an 8.9r earthquake. That is an important reason NOT to have nuclear power plants, but instead look to greener sources of energy. America would do well to be more conservative in their use of energy. Native Americans used to say to walk softly on the earth. A good lesson.

I also add, there is a reason that private insurance companies refuse to insure nuclear power plants. We are witnessing it. God help Japan. Good for the Swiss and all nations that are rethinking the nuclear situs.

[StephenJK]

12:08 PM on 03/14/2011

"No engineerin­g feat can protect a nuclear plant from an 8.9r earthquake"

BS, the problem was a 40 foot high wall of water that crashed ashore and breached their seawalls.

[CCverve]

11:26 AM on 03/14/2011

I applaud the Swiss for immediate suspension of and subsequent review of safety standands. That said, I am very interested in understanding the design and construction standards set forth in the Japanese reactor in question. Like what incased the core? How much steel and how much concrete, if any, was utilized? And just where were/are the back-up cooling generators located? Sunami or no, the devil is in the (design)details.

"Safety is our first priority," Unfortunately, this is NOT the overall mantra of the industrialized world.

[StephenJK]

12:11 PM on 03/14/2011

The problem was a 40 ft high wall of water breaching their seawalls and flooding the basement where the backup power sources were. That was the ONLY issue here. Everything goes back to that moment, as far as the reactors are concerned.

[CCverve]

11:49 PM on 03/14/2011

WRONG... NOT the only issue. The contaimment design of the both the GE Mark I and II have been suspect and subject to lawsuit for some time. The Dai Chi plant is is GE Mark I. GE has settled pending litgation regarding the containment DESIGN with, limited admission and independent US electric companies stating GE had poor understanding of steam condensation process . That was in 1988.

[thrugreeneyez]

11:17 AM on 03/14/2011

Who could blame the Swiss? Makes sense, and I hope the US can follow their sensible example, and not build or replace anymore risky nuclear power plants.

[whyus]

10:58 AM on 03/14/2011

Maybe we could learn a lesson from the Swiss. We need to be even more cautious than they are because of our earthquake faults.

[ThinkCreeps]

10:27 AM on 03/14/2011

Measured, meticulous, cautious and evidence-based. The story certainly smells swiss.

[Christophe]

10:24 AM on 03/14/2011

Makes sense.
Switzerland is such an active seismic region...

[lunarsnare]

11:40 AM on 03/14/2011

Expedient political grandstanding.

[Christophe]

01:44 AM on 03/15/2011

For sure.