The right-wing parties VVD and CDA are fully advocating nuclear energy in the government negotiations in the Netherlands, which are still ongoing. They are advocating the construction of new nuclear power plants, reported de Volkskrant. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that new power stations will also be built in his country, while Europe is considering considering nuclear energy as ‘green energy’ from now on as it does not emit any CO2.
In our country, the discussion about the nuclear exit is raging and MR chairman Georges-Louis Bouchez has already made a warm plea for the latest nuclear power plants. He received the explicit support of his Open Vld colleague Egbert Lachaert, and the ruling party CD&V has also been in favor of thoroughly investigating this option for some time.
This concerns the ‘fourth generation’ power plants: the ‘small modular reactors’ (SMR), molten salt reactors or thorium reactors, which would release little or no nuclear waste.
The problem is that these techniques are far from being perfect. It is estimated that they would not be commercially exploitable until 2050. They therefore offer no answer to the burning topical energy discussion.
In the meantime, the federal government continues to invest in research into such techniques via the Belgian Nuclear Research Center (SCK) and the Myrrha research project in Mol. Federal Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen) supports this approach and has no objections to a power station that can produce energy safely, CO2-free and without nuclear waste.
The third generation of reactors, which the Dutch and French are thinking of, has little political support in our country. This type of reactor still produces nuclear waste, but is considered to be much safer. Only: building such a power plant takes time and a lot of money. In the most optimistic scenario, the plant will be completed within ten years and will cost 10 billion euros. Examples from France and the UK prove that the schedule can be extended considerably and that the costs turn out to be considerably higher than first estimated. Significant: without substantial state support, not a single company in the sector in the Netherlands would be waiting for a new nuclear power plant.
A possible compromise in our country is that the door to the fourth generation reactors is opened a little further. Article 3 of the nuclear phase-out Act currently stipulates that no new power stations can be built in our country. The liberals, among others, suggest to adjust that passage, so that there is permission for the newest generation. In this way, any criticism of a dogmatic energy policy can be countered. Although that adjustment will be mainly symbolic, since those power stations are not yet for tomorrow.
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