Switzerland has voted to follow Germany and start exiting nuclear power as part of a revised energy strategy which will also cut consumption and increase wind and solar power generation.
Some 58.2 per cent of voters in a referendum on Sunday backed a ban on new nuclear plants, according to final results. The affluent Alpine state’s five existing nuclear plants can, however, continue to operate as long as they are deemed safe.
The vote followed Germany’s decision in the wake of Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster to shut down all 17 of the country’s nuclear reactors by 2022. Last week, the commitment of newly-elected French president Emmanuel Macron to nuclear power was called into question by the appointment of nuclear critic Nicolas Hulot as energy minister.