Survey In Switzerland Shows Increasing Support For Nuclear Energy

An opinion poll led by Demoscope on behalf of the Swiss Nuclear Forum shows that the majority of the Swiss support nuclear energy and oppose the country’s ban on building new ones.

According to the results, 52% of respondents believe that Switzerland should continue to use nuclear energy to produce electricity, alongside renewables. At the same time, 37% of respondents are against nuclear energy, while the remaining 11% do not know.

The share of nuclear supporters has thus increased by 8% compared to the February 2022 poll.

Among the main reasons for supporting nuclear energy, 90% of those in favor said it is needed to provide enough electricity, and 46% highlighted the key role of nuclear for the achievement of Switzerland’s climate targets.

Moreover, 52% of respondents believe that people should be able to decide, on a case-by-case basis, whether or not a new nuclear power plant should be built.

Read the full Swiss Nuclear Forum Press Release (in French).

Currently, Switzerland has four nuclear reactor units in commercial operation at three sites – Gösgen, Leibstadt (both ENS Corporate Members), and Beznau-1 and -2 – which provided 28.8% of the country’s electricity in 2021.

In 2018 an International Energy Agency report said Switzerland’s nuclear phaseout will create an energy gap of at least 20 TWh a year that will need to be replaced with other generation technologies, possibly including new fossil fuel capacity.