Muehleberg peaceful anti-nuclear protest in May (©2011 Herbi Ditl, flickr.com/photos/herbivore)

Update 2  19:20  BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss ruling seven-member Federal Council Wednesday afternoon voted to end the country’s nuclear energy programme by 2034. The decision requires approval by Parliament.

Five existing nuclear power stations will be closed as their licenses, which will not be renewed, come to an end.

Europe finalizes nuclear station “stress tests”

The European Union, also Wednesday afternoon, put the finishing touches on its stress tests programme for nuclear facilities, to test their ability to withstand terrorist attacks and natural disasters. “The tests, which follow two months of wrangling, will also address resilience to more common threats such as forest fires, transport accidents and the loss of electrical power supplies,” reports The Guardian in the UK. Tests must begin by 1 June.

Switzerland’s Federal Council, in setting out its new 2050 energy strategy, will look to guarantee that the country’s energy needs are met through a combination of:

• greater economies through more efficient use of energy supplies
• developing hydraulic power and renewable energy supplies
• as needed, producing combustible gas for electricity
• imports.

The government has noted the urgent need to rapidly develop electricity networks and to increase energy research.

The WWF promptly issued a statement congratulating the government on its decision but noting that the parliament could take this a step further when it votes 8 June, in particular in setting an earlier date of 2029 to end the nuclear programme, pointing out that several environmental groups recommended this to the government in early May, outlining their reasons.

The council said Wednesday afternoon in its statement that it sees no reason to advance the date, and that recent checks on the safety of the plants shows they are very secure. The plants have a 50 year life and will come to the end of their terms in 2019, for Beznau, 2022 for Beznau II and Mueleberg , 2029 for Goesgen and 2034 for Leibstadt.

The AltaRock Energy project in California, north of San Francisco, to drill deep into the Earth’s bedrock and use the heat released as a renewable energy source, was abandoned Friday 11 December. The project has been seen as a key part of the Obama administration’s efforts to find alternative energy supplies. The move comes just a day after Switzerland’s geothermal project in Basel was shut down permanently, following earthquakes at the site in 2006 and early 2007.

Links to other sites: Alta Rock, New York Times