1974–1978: Protests and Referendum Against the Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant

Since 1969, the construction of nuclear power plants in Austria has not only been planned, but also carried out. The first plant was already completed in Zwentendorf in Lower Austria as protests instensified as of 1974 – supported by left-wing protest groups and the consortium Nein zu Zwentendorf, led by Geology professor Alexander Tollmann.

As the discussion intensified, then Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky (SPÖ, Social Democratic Party of Austria) strongly advocated for the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant and reacted, in part, extremely aggressively against protests. His attempt to decide on the activation of the finished nuclear power plant with individual delegates of the ÖVP (Austrian People’s Party) in parliament failed. Kreisky thus enforced a referendum. Under its chairperson Josef Taus, the ÖVP changed its objective and became an anti-nuclear party overnight. When Kreisky indicated in the course of the election debates that he might resign should there be a defeat, members of the ÖVP became particularly active against Zwentendorf (Kreisky: “I do not want to say that I will definitely not resign. But I also do not want to say that this would leave me unaffected”). Even individual SPÖ delegates turned against the nuclear power plant and the Kronen Zeitung tabloid aligned itself with the opponents of the nuclear power reactor.

The results of the referendum on 5 November 1978, whereby 1,606,308 eligible voters participated, was a narrow 50.47% vote against and 49.33% in favour of the nuclear power plant in Zwentendorf. The voter turnout was 64% and 30,000 votes ultimately tipped the balance.

Although Kreisky initially accepted the vote, he and the SPÖ successor government probed the possibility of activating the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant. But with the massive disaster that took place at Chernobyl in 1986, all of these plans came to an end.

Zwentendorf also marks the end of the long phase of post-WWII economic development, which ignored environmental issues and public opinion. Along with the protests against the construction of a hydroelectric power plant at Hainburg in 1984, these discussions gave rise to the emergence of a Green Party, which then made its entry into parliament in November 1986 as “The Green Alternative – List Meissner-Blau” with just over five percent.