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Euro court rejects case over Swiss nuclear plant
Euro court rejects case over Swiss nuclear plant
STRASBOURG, France, April 6 (Reuters) - The European Court of Human
Rights rejected a complaint on Thursday against the Swiss government
for extending the operating licence of a nuclear plant deemed unsafe
by the plaintiffs.
The case was brought to the Strasbourg-based court by 13 Swiss
citizens living in villages close to the Beznau nuclear plant, in the
Aargau area of German-speaking Switzerland.
They argued that the Swiss government had breached their rights to a
fair trial and had denied them an effective way of opposing the
extension of the licence.
But the court said that expert reports had not shown that the
plaintiffs were exposed to any specific, serious and imminent danger.
Switzerland in 1994 granted the plant operator, Nordostschweizerische
Kraftwerke (NOK), a licence to operate the plant until 2004. It was
built in 1971.
The court also said that the use of nuclear power was a policy
decision to be made by governments, and the plaintiffs were not
entitled to go beyond the Swiss civil code to oppose the extension of
the licence.
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