SWI swissinfo.ch announced on Friday, December 20, 2019 a historic nuclear shutdown in Switzerland

The Mühleberg nuclear power station was officially taken offline at 12.30pm, when the last control rod was removed from between the fuel elements. This stopped the chain reaction and deactivated the reactor. The process took three seconds.

The event was considered so important in Switzerland that viewers could follow the progress live on television. Cameras showed a close-up as the red buttons were switched off. There were a few tense moments as everything was checked. "The reactor is now off," said the manager, Roland Bönzli.

The pressure in the reactor will be steadily reduced and water temperature is due to drop from 280 degrees Celsius to less than 100C.

Situated around 15 kilometres from the Swiss capital Bern, the reactor has been in service since 1972 and provided 5% of the electricity used in Switzerland. BKW, the operator of Mühleberg plant, decided to close the plant in 2013 for business reasons.

BKW said on Friday that it was "organisationally and financially well prepared for its largest project since the construction of [Mühleberg] about 50 years ago".

It added that the site had generated enough electricity to cover the energy consumption of Bern for more than 100 years.

There have been mixed views on the end of Mühleberg. Some locals told TV reporters that the plant had been part of the landscape, whereas the plant's workers said they felt a mixture of pride and sadness.

Transport and Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga tweeted that the future belonged to local, clean energy from the water and the sun.