Swiss power executives consider new nuclear plant.

[NNadir]

Switzerland’s largest electricity company Axpo says it has to act now to prevent a serious "energy crunch" that could develop over the next decade.
The firm unveiled proposals at a news conference to invest more than SFr5 billion ($4 billion) in measures including the construction of new gas-fired power plants – and tentative longer-term plans for a new nuclear plant.

Axpo sees new nuclear as a longer-term option

The announcement comes shortly after the head of the federal energy office, Walter Steinmann, said he favoured building gas-fired plants to meet future demand, although that would increase emissions of carbon dioxide, the main "greenhouse gas" commonly held responsible for global warming.

Axpo CEO Heinz Karrer stressed that building new nuclear plants was "not a priority" and said no decisions had yet been made regarding timing, cost, location or overall feasibility...

...Switzerland’s largest electricity company Axpo says it has to act now to prevent a serious "energy crunch" that could develop over the next decade.
The firm unveiled proposals at a news conference to invest more than SFr5 billion ($4 billion) in measures including the construction of new gas-fired power plants – and tentative longer-term plans for a new nuclear plant.

Axpo sees new nuclear as a longer-term option

The announcement comes shortly after the head of the federal energy office, Walter Steinmann, said he favoured building gas-fired plants to meet future demand, although that would increase emissions of carbon dioxide, the main "greenhouse gas" commonly held responsible for global warming.

Axpo CEO Heinz Karrer stressed that building new nuclear plants was "not a priority" and said no decisions had yet been made regarding timing, cost, location or overall feasibility...

...This situation – which mirrored a similar looming crisis at Europe-wide level – could be particularly serious during winter months, when a supply gap could begin arising as early as 2012.

And Karrer added that options were limited – energy efficiency and conservation measures were not even capable of keeping pace with annual demand growth, new renewable energy sources were "nowhere near" being able to meet the gap, and the potential to expand Swiss hydro-power capacity was "very limited".

Switzerland currently produces some 40 per cent of its electricity from five nuclear power plants and the vast majority of the rest from hydropower...

Karrer said Axpo would have to make initial decisions regarding new baseload electricity supply capacity after 2020 by 2008 at the latest.

...He added: "Unfortunately, baseload electricity can only be provided by renewable energy to a very limited extent.

"This is a very important factor, which either do not understand or do not want to acknowledge."

The emphasis is mine.

http://www.swisspolitics.org/en/news/index.php?page=dossier_artikel&story_id=5814495&dossier_id=37

I suspect that Switzerland is going to be in a world of shit if the glaciers in the Alps melt faster than expected - an effect that seems to be occurring in the actual event.

I note that the Swiss case represents more support for my argument that if you are anti-nuclear you are pro-fossil fuel. Arguably Switzerland will face the most profound consequences of global climate change and still they are debating more gas.

[bananas]

1. Switzerland vows to continue Chernobyl aid

http://www.swisspolitics.org/en/news/index.php?page=dossier_artikel&story_id=6648728&dossier_id=37

Switzerland vows to continue Chernobyl aid

At the end of an international conference to mark the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl, a senior Swiss aid official tells swissinfo the tragedy must not be forgotten.

Toni Frisch, director of the Swiss government's Humanitarian Aid Unit, says the three million people affected by the nuclear disaster will need support for decades to come.

Related links:
» UN operations for Chernobyl victims
» Information platform provided by Switzerland and the UN on the consequences of Chernobyl

Related videos:
The Chernobyl accident and its aftermath


A woman in Ukraine waits to be checked for thyroid cancer


According to Frisch, the medical, social and economic consequences have still not been overcome 20 years after the accident at Chernobyl's nuclear reactor.

Frisch, who attended the three-day forum in Minsk organised by Belarus and the United Nations, said Switzerland was committed to providing long-term assistance.

Since 2000 the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation has provided SFr16.5 million ($13 million) for humanitarian projects in affected communities in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.

swissinfo: Following this conference, how much additional aid will Switzerland be providing?

Toni Frisch: We already have our programme and our strategy for 2006-2008 in place so there is no additional assistance promised. We have a clear programme with about SFr4.5 million a year for the next few years and this is independent of the conference. Our programme is based on the one hand on general needs but mainly on assistance after Chernobyl.

<snip>

I am impressed by how the people and government here in Belarus are dealing with these tremendous problems. I have visited rural areas very near the reactor at Chernobyl and I am impressed by the attitude and the dignity of the people there.

swissinfo: Could more be done?

T.F.: Certainly more could be done, but it is also a question of budgets. The international community should do more but there are limits of course – there are so many catastrophes.

But the most important thing is that we do not forget Chernobyl tomorrow and that we continue to support for the next 20-30 years because these consequences will remain.

<snip>

(swissinfo, 21.04.2006)

[NNadir]

2. Switzerland has no RBMK reactors and no nuclear related deaths.

Chernobyl has nothing to do with Swiss nuclear reactors.

Or do you have information about deaths related to nuclear energy in Switzerland to which no one else is privy?

Do you also have any information about Swiss aid to the thousands of coal miners in the Ukraine who have died since 1990?

http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/2000/120001.shtml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/2819069.stm

Oh. I forgot. You have coal mining deaths on "ignore." They don't count. Only Chernobyl counts. Chernobyl is the only energy disaster that matters, am I right? A brazillion people could die while waiting for your solar Nirvana, and still you will go on saying "Chernobyl, chernobyl, chernobyl..." as if chanting was the same as thinking.

For the record, after the 2000 coal mine accident, international aide was sent to the Ukrainian victims:

There has been an international outpouring of sympathy for the families of the latest victims. While the presidents of Estonia and Poland sent condolences, the Chinese Embassy in Kyiv announced that the Republic of China would donate $15,000 to the families of the deceased miners.

In Ukraine, the government said that each of the families would be allocated an amount of money equal to five annual salaries, and each child would be given one annual salary.

See the first link above.

Again for the record, maybe you can provide us with some Bananas posts on the E&E forum wherein new coal capacity is listed in some country and you provide us with a breathless account of aid to the families of dead Ukrainian coal miners.

You seem to have been absent with such a comment, in this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=57605 even though you piped in immediately here.

Wait! Wait! I keep forgetting. Bananas has coal on IGNORE!!!!!!!!!!

In the case of nuclear energy, it happens that most of the world has the pro-coal anti-nuclear set on "ignore." The number of reactors either under consideration, on order, or under construction now exceeds 200. It looks like Switzerland might be another country to "ignore" immoral "nuclear exceptionalism."

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/reactors.htm