Nuclear Monitor #924

Jan van Evert

The Dutch government plans to build four large nuclear power plants by 2035. But the minister of climate and energy, Sophie Hermans, has announced in a letter to parliament that “It no longer seems realistic to have the first nuclear power plant operational by 2035.” In a committee meeting on the 12th of February on the subject she refused to give a new deadline. Instead she replied that “we also use a third-party review and technical-feasibility studies”. Asked by a committee member what can be done to speed up the process she warned:  “If we accelerate further, it will always be a trade-off and could potentially always have a price. That could literally be in money, in public support because you have less time to set up a participation process or in risks because you have to take careless decisions”.

The minister said she will send a more comprehensive progress letter to parliament in April or early May, with more details on the planning. She also mentioned that the budget of 14 billion euros for the four new plants is ‘tight’. That is quite an understatement. The costs of the eight most recently built reactors worldwide averaged 20 billion euros. The construction of the  Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Great Britain has even cost 50 billion. A recent report commissioned by the UK government concludes that it costs 15 to 17 billion euros to build just one nuclear power plant.

Asked by a member of the opposition where in the world has a nuclear power plant been built on time and within budget she replied: “In Barakah in the UnitedArab Emirates, a total of four reactors were built of 1,400 megawatts each.In the process, there was a bit of a delay and some budget overrun, but that waslimited.” In reality the cost of the Barakah reactors was thirty billion euros, ten billion more than the original budget. The construction time of this project was 11 years.

The government plans are also threatened by several proposals to use part of the 14 billion euro budget to solve other problems. Three opposition parties have announced a bill to spend money from the budget to make the Dutch agricultural sector more sustainable. They may get support form the BBB, one of the coalition parties. This party was one of the parties that signed a vote in the Dutch senate to do just that. Another member of the opposition, although being in favour of  nuclear energy, warned that “international investors are worried about a lot of things in Netherlands, because there is a lot of uncertainty, also about the stability of the government and so on”.

To complicate things even further, the PVV, the largest coalition party, has announced that they want to use part of  the 14 billion euro budget to reduce the heating bill of Dutch citizens. The minister opposed these suggestions: “in my view, this sends a very undesirable signal to the industry. It does something to the reliability of our stated ambition” .

Earlier, minister Hermans wrote in a letter to parliament that the government had failed to find a commercial partner to invest in the construction of nuclear power plants. “Even with extensive governmental support there are no companies that want to take this responsibility”, the minister wrote. This means the for new nuclear power plants will become state owned companies.

There are even more hurdles to take. A recent report calculated that for the construction of the new plants 7000 full time jobs are required. Only 30 percent of that personnel can be recruited in The Netherlands. Minister Hermans has already warned that The Netherlands will remain dependant on foreign knowledge. “How does this relate to other policies such as more selective migration?”, she asked in an earlier letter to parliament.

Last but not least the Dutch government has to find suitable locations for these four reactors. Borssele has already been chosen as preferential location for two reactors. Two other locations are being considered: the Tweede Maasvlakte near Rotterdam and Terneuzen in Zeeland. Eemshaven in Groningen is also on the list but is highly controversial due to strong local opposition. The senator of the NSC, one of the coalition parties, said Eemshaven is not acceptable for her party. The procedure of choosing sites for the reactors has already been delayed and will not be finished before the end of this year. The minister said that in the before mentioned letter to parliament in April or early May she will also reveal when this procedure will be finished.

She also announced during the debate that the government is writing a bill to extend the lifespan of the Borssele nuclear power plant to 2054.