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🇨🇭 Switzerland /Energy & Infrastructure

Billions at stake in nuclear power dispute as ETH researchers attack science academies

From Neue Zürcher Zeitung · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Ongoing story
  • Switzerland is preparing for a national vote on whether to allow new nuclear power plants after Parliament repealed the construction ban.
  • The likely cost of a new reactor has become a central issue, with ETH researchers challenging estimates of up to 43 billion Swiss francs.
  • The dispute has drawn in prominent scientific institutions and highlights how studies and expert opinions can shape political debate.

A bitter dispute over the cost of new nuclear power plants is dividing some of Switzerland’s most respected scientific institutions, six months before voters decide the country’s nuclear future.

At the center is a stark question: could a new reactor really cost as much as 43 billion Swiss francs? Professors from ETH Zurich dispute that estimate and describe it as misleading. Their challenge has turned a technical argument over reactors and construction methods into a political fight over billions.

What did you expect? That it would be glowing and radiating here?

· Andreas MenziThe Mühleberg mayor reflects on the dismantled nuclear plant and its place in the community.

The debate has a powerful symbol in Mühleberg, the nuclear plant outside the village of the same name along the Aare. The plant has not produced electricity since 2019 and is now being dismantled. For local mayor Andreas Menzi, the facility remains part of the community’s identity. “The municipality identified with this plant. It shaped us. This landmark will be missed when it is eventually completely dismantled,” he says.

Menzi, a local politician from the Swiss People’s Party, considers the nuclear phaseout a mistake. He believes a new plant would now stand beside the old one if the Fukushima disaster had not occurred. “The plans were completely ready,” he says.

The municipality identified with this plant. It shaped us. This landmark will be missed when it is eventually completely dismantled.

· Andreas MenziMenzi describes the plant’s importance to the village.

Mühleberg is not the only place where nuclear power is finding renewed support. Fifteen years after the Federal Council, led by Doris Leuthard, decided to phase out nuclear energy, Parliament this summer removed the ban on new construction. Voters will have the final say at the end of February, setting the stage for an intense campaign in which supporters and opponents are already confronting each other.

The NZZ am Sonntag has obtained a letter signed by seven researchers from ETH Zurich, EPFL Lausanne and the Paul Scherrer Institute. The signatories include nuclear researcher Annalisa Manera, retired nuclear science dean Horst-Michael Prasser and professor Andreas Pautz. Their intervention places the cost estimates, the methods behind them and the role of expert authority at the heart of the coming vote.

The plans were completely ready.

· Andreas MenziMenzi argues that a new nuclear plant would have been built beside Mühleberg without the Fukushima disaster.
About this summary

Originally published by Neue Zürcher Zeitung in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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