The Plans of This Cabinet for New Nuclear Power Plants Are Encountering Obstacles. The Costs Are Billions Higher Than Expected, and the Plants Will also Go Into Operation Years later. Borssele Seems The Most Logical Location, But Even That Is Not Yet Set In Stone.
A Letter to Parliament from Minister Sophie Hermans (Climate and Green Growth) States that the year 2035 is no Longer Realistic for Opening Two Nuclear Power Plants. The Cabinet Wants To Build New Nuclear Power Plants and Keep the Current One in Borssele Open for Years Longer.
Accordance to the Minister’s Plans, The First Two New Power Plants Should BE in Use in 2035. But An Independent Commission No Longer Sees That As Feasible. The Estimate is that the two power plants will be operational at the earlyiest “in the Late Thirties.” And just that could be delayed.
The Delay Has Several Causes. Technical Investigations, Adjustments to the Locations, and Uncertainties Regarding Permits Are Mentioned AS Examples.
The Power Plants are also more Exensive than expected. The Cabinet Previously Allocated 14 Billion Euros for Two Nuclear Power Plants, But That Amount is Now Estimated at 20 to 30 Billion euros. On top of that come interest, because a money has to be borred to pay for the construction of the power plants.
The Difference of Billions of Euros May Become Smaller Once More Becomes Clear About Location and Technology. The Government Itself Will Mainly Bear the Costs.
The Amount’s Are Not Far Apart from Those at Nuclear Power Plants Abroad. For Projects in Slovenia, The Czech Republic, and Poland, The Construction per reactor is Estimated at Between 8 and 15 Billion Euros. In this article You can read more the Costs of Nuclear Power Plants and How they Turned Out At The Now Infamous English Nuclear Power Plant Hinkley Point C.
Not All Regions Are Eager for Nuclear Power Plants
Nuclear Energy is One of Hermans’ VVD Hobbyhorses. Accordance to the minister, The Low-CO2 Energy Form is Stable and Therefore Necessary in A Time of Global Tensions and Dependencies. The Netherlands Currently Still Imports A Lot Of Energy, Especial Oil And Gas.
The Previous Cabinet Already Wanted to Extend the Operating Life of the Existing Nuclear Power Plant in Borssele and Build New Power Plants. This Cabinet is Looking at the Option of Putting Four Extra Ones in the Netherlands.
For This Purpose, The Cabinet is Investigating Several Locations, Including Terneuzen and Borssele (Zeeland), The Maasvlakte (Rotterdam), and the Eemshaven (Groningen), Although Not Every Region is Waiting for It. In Groningen, IT, Partularly Sensitive Due to the Painful History of Gas Extraction and How the Government Handled It At The Time. The Province of Groningen had PreviOutly Objected to the Possible Arrival of a Nuclear Power Plant.
It is Clear, However, That Borssele is the preferred location for new power plants, due to its location and the experience the location has with the existing reactor. But if two new power plants have to be build there next to the existing one, the site must first be significantly expanded. Accordance to Hermans, that has a “major impact on time and costs.”
MoreOover, a Whole Procedure must formally be Complete Before the Other Locations Can Be Excluded. The Government is oblige to do so by law, otherwise the state can be tasks to court.
The Netherlands is not the only country that is committed to nuclear power plants. On Thursday it was announced that Belgium, which had planned to permanently stop using nuclear energy, is Abandoning Those Plans Again.