Swiss Cabinet calls for reactor phaseout

The country will keep the reactors running as long as they are safe, but gradually hopes to turn to entirely non-nuclear sources of power, Energy Minister Doris Leuthard and other Swiss energy officials said.

“We have to consider whether we want to live with this risk,’’ Leuthard told a news conference. “Nuclear energy has become more expensive in recent years and the cost will only increase in the future.’’

Switzerland’s nuclear plants generate about 40 percent of the country’s energy. Hydropower supplies almost all the rest.

On Sunday, about 20,000 people took part in the biggest antinuclear protest in Switzerland in 25 years, fueled by concern about the continuing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

“It’s basically what we asked them to do,’’ said Christian Zeyer of Swiss Cleantech, a sustainable economic group. “We’re looking for an economy that is sustainable as a whole.’’

Zeyer said the nation can eventually turn to hydropower, wind energy, biomass, and photovoltaics.

“We can get by just fine — not at the moment, not immediately — but as time goes on there will be enough opportunities to increase renewable energies,’’ he said.