Swiss nuclear lobby hit by bomb
March 31, 2011 by
Filed under Green Electronics
Two injured after parcel bomb explodes in offices of Swissnuclear
Two people have been injured after a parcel bomb exploded in the offices of the Swiss nuclear lobby, police said.
The two female employees of Swissnuclear were taken to hospital with superficial burns and hearing damage, a police spokesman said, adding that it was not yet known who sent the parcel.
Police cordoned off the office on the fourth floor of a building in the northern town of Olten. The police spokesman said forensic specialists were on the ground.
Earlier this month, Switzerland suspended the approvals process for three new nuclear power stations so that safety standards could be reviewed after Japan’s earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Swissnuclear says it works to promote the safe and efficient use of nuclear power and represents Swiss utilities Alpiq, Axpo, BKW, CKW and EGL, which run the nuclear plants that produce about 40% of Swiss electricity.
Olten is home to the headquarters of Alpiq, where about 50 Greenpeace protesters held a demonstration on Thursday calling for the company to withdraw its application to build a new nuclear plant.
A police spokesman said they were investigating whether there was any connection between the explosion and the demonstration.
Greenpeace said it had nothing to do with the attack. “We are shocked that such action can be used for political purposes. Greenpeace is committed to non-violent protest,” said energy campaigner Florian Kasser.
The centre-left Social Democrats and the Greens are calling for Switzerland to abandon nuclear power after the Japanese disaster. However, the energy minister, Doris Leuthard, has cautioned against a hasty decision, warning that abandonment would mean more gas power stations and a subsequent rise in carbon emissions.
In 1990, Swiss voters backed a 10-year moratorium on the building of nuclear power plants but they rejected extending the freeze in 2003, opening the way for the government to consider new plants to replace those that needed to be retired.
Last month, voters narrowly approved the building of a plant in Muehleberg to replace the old one there, which is 20% owned by Germany’s E.ON.