Nuclear energy in the Netherlands

Borssele Dodewaard

Nuclear power plants in the Netherlands:  In operation shut down

The nuclear energy in the Netherlands since the late 1960s, part of the energy supply of the country. Compared to the neighboring states of Belgium and Germany, however, nuclear energy has always played a significantly smaller role in the energy supply in the Netherlands. The share of nuclear energy in total Dutch energy generation was around 3.5 percent in 2017.

history

Theoretical considerations on the use of nuclear energy existed at the Technical University of Delft as early as the 1930s, which is why a uranium store was created there. During the time of the German occupation , this supply was hidden from the occupiers. After the war, this uranium formed the basis for nuclear cooperation with Norway, where a research reactor was operated in Kjeller with Dutch participation. In 1955, a dedicated research reactor was put into operation in Petten . The plans pushed forward by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs in the 1950s provided that nuclear energy should be introduced from 1962 and ultimately take over an ever larger share of the energy supply. From May 1, 1965, the construction of a 55 MWe boiling water reactor in Dodewaard (today part of Neder-Betuwe in Gelderland ) began. The reactor became critical on May 24, 1968 and fed electricity into the public grid from October 18, 1968. It was in operation until March 26, 1997 when it was shut down for economic reasons.

This was followed by a commercial 452 MWe pressurized water reactor , which was built at the Borssele site (from 1970 part of the municipality of Borsele in Zeeland ) from July 1, 1969 by the Siemens subsidiary Kraftwerk Union . On June 20, 1973 the reactor went critical and on October 25, 1973 it went online. After its duration had been extended to the year 2033, the turbine system was modernized in 2006, so that the output of the reactor rose from 452 to 485 MWe.

List of reactors

List of nuclear power plants in the Netherlands (source: IAEA, as of December 2019)

Surname	block	Reactor type	model	status	Net power in MW	Gross power in MW	start of building	First network synchronization	Commercial operation (planned)	Switching off processing (planned)	Feed- in in TWh
Borssele	1	PWR	KWU 2LP	In operation	482	515	07/01/1969	07/04/1973	10/26/1973	(2034)	152.33
Dodewaard	1	BWR	GE design	Shut down	55	60	05/01/1965	October 18, 1968	03/26/1969	03/26/1997	10.93

Considerations and disputes about the nuclear phase-out

Attitude to nuclear energy (percent of opponents minus percent of supporters)

country	1978	1987
France	2%	−3%
Switzerland	−2%	10%
Germany	11%	19%
Netherlands	26%	27%
Belgium	12%	6%
United Kingdom	−32%	1 %
Italy	−24%	46%
Denmark	−3%	49%
The more positive the number, the greater the opposition. Opponents predominantly supporters predominantly  

After the discovery of extensive oil and gas fields in the North Sea from the end of the 1950s, the future energy supply appeared less critical and the expansion of nuclear energy less urgent. In addition, the serious reactor accidents at Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986 led to a further decline in the acceptance of nuclear energy among the Dutch public. Surveys showed that by the end of the 1970s attitudes skeptical about nuclear power clearly predominated in the Netherlands, which was made even more pronounced by Chernobyl. Immediately after the Chernobyl disaster, then Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers declared that the decision to build two more nuclear power plants would be postponed indefinitely.

After Chernobyl, the Borssele nuclear power plant, like other nuclear power plants across Europe, was visited by experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). They found some shortcomings. The operating company EPZ ( Elektriciteits Produktiemaatschappij Zuid-Nederland ) then worked out a plan for a safety upgrade for the power plant. The cost of this upgrade was estimated at 467 million Dutch guilders (about US $ 310 million at the time). These power plant conversions and modernizations took place in 1997. To compensate for the costs, the operators demanded a lifetime guarantee for the power plant up to 2007.

On November 23, 1994, at the initiative of the Green MP Marijke Vos , the Second Chamber of the States General passed the resolution with a narrow majority not to extend the running time before Borssele beyond the previously determined December 31, 2003. The operating company has been guaranteed compensation by the government. A decommissioning procedure was prepared, against which the operating company and also the organized workers of the nuclear power plant filed a lawsuit. In February 2000 the Raad van State (State Council) declared the decommissioning procedure to be invalid for formal reasons, so that the 2003 deadline was no longer applicable. In order to force a shutdown at the end of 2003, the government went to the administrative court in 's-Hertogenbosch . A central issue here was whether the operating company had accepted the compensation payments offered by the government in the event of a closure in 1993/94 or not. On September 22nd, 2002, the court ruled against the government because it had not been able to adequately explain what legally binding agreements had been made to close it. The verdict was a great disappointment for those who opposed nuclear power in the Netherlands. The Greens in particular were deprived of the nuclear phase-out that was almost certainly believed.

In the two parliamentary elections on May 15, 2002 and January 22, 2003 , the conservative-liberal forces were successful and the new Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende declared right at the beginning that the closure of Borssele in 2003 was not an issue for him. Later, there was talk of a shutdown date in 2013 and on September 7, 2005, an agreement was signed between the government and the two power plant operators Delta and Essent , in which the two operators committed to an additional investment of 250 million euros in renewable energies. In return, the government guaranteed Borssele to operate until 2033.

Planning for a second nuclear power plant

In November 2010, the electricity company Delta - a 70% shareholder in the Borssele nuclear power station - and the French Électricité de France signed a letter of intent to build another reactor block in Borssele with a capacity of 2500 MW. In December 2011, however, EDF withdrew from the project. In addition, RWE - meanwhile shareholders of the remaining 30% - issued a declaration on January 21, 2012 that RWE “under the current economic and political circumstances” (on June 30, 2011, the German Bundestag had decided to phase out nuclear power ) would not be able to do so to invest in such a project. Delta then put the plans on hold.

literature

• Maarten J. Arentsen: CONTESTED TECHNOLOGY: Nuclear Power in the Netherlands . In: Energy & Environment . SPECIAL ISSUE: Energy Policy and Nuclear Power - 20 Years after the Chernobyl Disaster. tape 17 , no. 3 . Sage Publications, Ltd., 2006, pp. 373-382 , JSTOR : 44397063 (English).

See also

• Nuclear energy by country

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Nuclear Power in the Netherlands. World Nuclear Power Association, December 2017, accessed December 31, 2017 . 
2. ^ Nuclear energy in the Netherlands. Retrieved December 31, 2017 (Dutch, nuclear-critical website). 
3. ↑ ^{a b} THE NETHERLANDS. (pdf) International Atomic Energy Agency , accessed on December 31, 2017 . 
4. ^ Thirty-five years of operation at Borssele NPP. Euro nuclear News, Volume 22, November 2008, accessed December 31, 2017 . 
5. ^ Frodo Klaassen: The Netherlands, country report. Meeting of the Technical Working Group on Fuel Efficiency and Technology (TWGFPT) of the IAA in Vienna, April 25, 2006, accessed on December 31, 2017 (English). 
6. ↑ Netherlands. IAEA , accessed December 5, 2019 . 
7. ↑ https://www.global2000.at/atomkraft-den-niederlanden
8. ^ Ruud Koopmans, Jan Willem Duyvendak: The Political Construction of the Nuclear Energy Issue and Its Impact on the Mobilization of Anti-Nuclear Movements in Western Europe . In: Social Problems . tape 42 , no. 2 . University of California Press, May 1995, pp. 235-251 , JSTOR : 3096903 (English, online [PDF]).
9. ^ MN: Netherlands: Triumph for Ruud Lubbers. Die Zeit, May 30, 1986, accessed December 31, 2017 . 
10. ↑ ^{a b} Netherlands: Court case on closure date Borssele NPP. Nuclear Monitor Issue, No. 551, June 25, 2001, accessed December 31, 2017 . 
11. ↑ Afspraken over sluiting Borssele ongeldig. de Volkskrant, September 25, 2002, accessed December 31, 2017 (Dutch). 
12. ↑ The sole nuclear power station in the Netherlands is to stay operational until 2033. EXPATICA, September 7, 2005, accessed on December 31, 2017 (English). 
13. ^ Delta, EDF sign agreement to co-develop Dutch nuclear plant. S&P Global Platts, November 4, 2010, accessed December 31, 2017 . 
14. ↑ NETHERLANDS: BORSSELE-2, number 741. Nuclear Monitor, February 3, 2012, accessed on December 31, 2017 (English).