Nuclear Energy in Switzerland - Status and Outlook

Switzerland is currently producing most of its electricity from hydrodynamic power and nuclear power plants (NPP). With the exception of the domestically available hydrodynamic potential, which has been largely utilised, there are no indigenous fossil or geothermal resources. The contribution of renewable energies is at the level of a few percent, but an active support programme to increase wind, biomass and solar energy has been announced by the Swiss Federal Government in 2007 and will be implemented in the upcoming years. The 'Energy Outlook 2035' report, commissioned by the Federal Office of Energy (Department of Transportation, Energy and communications), indicates that at around 2020 a drastic decrease in electricity production is to be expected, as the older NPPs will reach a 50-years lifetime and electricity purchase agreements with neighboring countries will expire. In all scenarios studied in this report for filling this gap, continuation of electricity production with NPP is required. The electric utilities have announced plans to apply for construction of new NPPs to replace existing ones as early as the end of 2008