economiesuisse welcomes the Federal Council's plan to lift the technology ban in energy policy

The Federal Council would like to launch an indirect counter-proposal to the so-called blackout initiative. This initiative calls for technological openness, but also for further reforms in the energy sector that go too far for the Federal Council or that it considers unnecessary.

After strengthening renewables, technological openness is the next milestone for security of supply

The Swiss population approved the Electricity Act on June 9, 2024 and thus clearly voted in favour of renewable energies. This was an extremely important and correct step for our security of supply. But it was not enough.

In order to ensure prosperity, climate targets and security of supply, we must at least double our electricity production by 2050. To do this, we will probably need all available climate-friendly technologies. Nuclear power can make a reliable, winter-effective, space-saving and climate-friendly contribution.

With renewable energies and nuclear power, it is not a question of "either-or", but "as well as". It is negligent to ignore individual technologies. This applies to nuclear power, but also to other future technologies.

Technology ban must be lifted

Under the current Nuclear Energy Act, no general licenses may be issued for the construction of new nuclear power plants. However, the world has changed fundamentally since the introduction of the ban on nuclear power. The energy crisis has shown that security of supply with climate-neutral electricity cannot be taken for granted. A winter electricity shortfall is also becoming increasingly apparent. At the same time, a lot has happened in the field of nuclear power: the EU has classified nuclear power as sustainable and declared it an "essential technology for net zero". The USA is also increasingly relying on nuclear power and similar developments can also be observed in Asia. Switzerland is currently on the sidelines in this development.

The technology ban should therefore be lifted and the construction of new nuclear power plants permitted. economiesuisse welcomes the Federal Council's far-sighted plans to lift the technology ban.