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GV EXTERIOR nuclear plant site building at Kaiseraugst PAN along gutted office following explosion (TWO SHOTS)
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CU signposts lying on roadway (TWO SHOTS)
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GV PAN from waste-land to building
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SV model of nuclear plant to be built
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SV police posters
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SV officials gathering evidence at scene of explosion and placing in bag
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SV PAN debris scattered wide area
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All the segments of the proposal were automatically defeated in the poll. The Swiss Federal government, a majority of Parliament, plus industry and financial bodies, have been against the proposal.




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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A bomb blast on Monday (19 February) destroyed a building on the site of a Swiss nuclear power station at Kaiseraugst, near Basle. The explosion came the day after voters had narrowly rejected a proposal from environmentalists that would have blocked the Swiss government's expansion programme for nuclear energy.

SYNOPSIS: Police said the explosion had wrecked the building, a two-storey information pavilion. After the blast, it was swept by fire, and officials estimated damage at more than six hundred thousand U.S. dollars. No-one hurt.

Kaiseraugst is the site where Switzerland's fifth nuclear power station is being built. It has been the target for anti-nuclear demonstrators for the past four years. The building blew up in the early hours of the morning.

Police said the saboteurs had posted warning notices near the pavilion, and had alerted them before the bomb went off. The referendum proposal drew a vote of just under fifty percent of the electorate, and was beaten by a mere forty-five thousand votes. Energy experts said that a 'yes' vote could have deprived Switzerland of all nuclear energy within three years.

The proposal, if passed, could have closed the four existing power station,s and made the building of four new ones dependent on the majority approval of people living in the surrounding districts. Woven into the proposal were provisions for stricter control, which would have applied as well to the existing nuclear plants. The corporations involved would have become liable for third party risk insurance of unlimited amounts.