New nuclear for the Netherlands?

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The Netherlands cannot exclude the construction of a second nuclear power plant, secretary of state for the environment Pieter van Geel has said. Mr van Geel said on 12 February 2006 that increased concern about climate change, and how the Netherlands will meet its future emissions targets, mean the option to increase the domestic use of nuclear energy must be kept open. He said that nuclear energy was a "very serious option" for meeting the country's future emissions targets, in addition to energy saving and the development of sustainable energy sources. Mr van Geel said he expects that in the coming years at least three of the country's fossil-fired electricity generating plants will need to be replaced. He said the choice of replacement power was likely to be clean coal plants or nuclear power plants. In terms of potential new nuclear generating capacity, Mr van Geel said there were three possible locations for a future nuclear plant: The site of the country's sole operating Borssele nuclear plant (which was granted a 20 year lifetime extension in January; Tweede Maasvlakte, an industrial zone around Rotterdam; And Delfzijl, Eemshaven, which is in the northern part of the country near the border with Germany. Mr van Geel said all of the areas named would be suitable for additional nuclear generating capacity because all had access to sufficient supplies of cooling water. His comments came ahead of the release of a report, by the Petten-based Energy Research Center of the Netherlands, on how the country could meet its future emissions targets. That report is due to be made public on 14 February 2006.

 

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