Nein to Nuclear

Europe's Harrisburg hangover

The ripples from Three Mile Island are reaching Europe's shores, giving much new force to the antinuclear movement. The West German government two weeks ago had to scuttle plans to build a nuclear reprocessing and waste-storage facility at Gorleben, near the East German border, after a Harrisburg-inspired protest by environmentalists and "citizen initiative" groups. Said Count Otto Lambsdorff, West Germany's Economics Minister: "This could be the death knell for our whole nuclear policy, including the export of nuclear plants."

In France, where saboteurs had earlier blown up a $15 million nuclear reactor bound for Iraq, protesters from the Cherbourg suburb of Equeurdreville were urging the closing of another reprocessing plant. In Denmark, officials announced they were rethinking their plans for new plant construction, and in Sweden the atomic energy inspection board reported that two nuclear reactors similar to the one at Three Mile Island would have to be retrofitted with systems that would deflate any hydrogen gas bubbles.

More than anywhere else, the ripples have grown into a wave of protest in Switzerland. Last week, in a national referendum, 70% of the voters favored much tighter controls on nuclear construction. No new plant can be built until planners submit proof that 1) it is definitely needed, and 2) the waste-disposal problem is solved. The measure also shifts nuclear regulatory authority from the energy ministry to the Swiss parliament, where interminable delays are expected.

It will be hard, perhaps impossible, for Switzerland to break from its nuclear umbilical cord. Lacking fossil fuels, it relies more per capita on nuclear power for its electrical energy than any other country in the world. Three nuclear plants produce 12% of Switzerland's electricity needs. A fourth plant was supposed to have started up by now, but it has been delayed indefinitely by Harrisburg. Admits Willi Ritschard, Switzerland's energy minister: "We Cannot survive without nuclear energy."

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