Nuclear energy is one of Switzerland's most important sources of energy. 35 % of total electricity generation is derived from nuclear energy. Currently, three locations operate four reactor units. Switzerland is one of 13 countries that generate a quarter of its energy from nuclear power. In an international comparison, our nuclear power units perform very well, as we carried out strict checks after the disaster in Fukushima.
The reactor units have a total capacity of 3,095 megawatts. That is 3'095'000'000 watts, for comparison: 1 gram of water can be heated by 14.3 degrees Celsius with 1 watt.
Nuclear energy is very controversial in Switzerland; 9 referendums have already attempted to force the phasing out of nuclear energy. The construction of new nuclear power plants was banned in 2017. Nevertheless, a clear majority of 64% supports nuclear energy as long as it can be generated safely. In the future, this will initiate the gradual phase-out. That makes Switzerland, together with Germany, the only Nations who are actively phasing out nuclear energy.
Quiz question:
Which of these countries has the most reactor units?
☐ China
☐ Russia
☐ France
The solution is France with 58 reactors.
Vocabular:
referendums -> Volksinitiative
Sources:
Kernenergie in der Schweiz (Wikipedia.org)
Kernenergie weltweit (Kernenergie.ch)
Abstimmungen KKW (uvek.admin.ch)
Vocabular:
referendums -> Volksinitiative
Dario & Justin