In order to secure the energy supply in the long term, the Netherlands are planning two new nuclear power plants. The piles are to be built on the border with neighboring Belgium. Meanwhile, France is certain that no industrial nation will do without this technology - including Germany.
The Netherlands are planning to build two new nuclear power plants near the Belgian border. This is intended to reduce their country's dependence on fossil fuels. The two plants should be completed by 2035 and then cover up to 13 percent of electricity production, said Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Meanwhile, France's French economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, predicted a return to nuclear power for all major industrial nations, including Germany.
The nuclear power plants are to be built near the village of Borssele, where the country's only active nuclear reactor from 1973 is already located. "By adding nuclear power to our energy mix, we will reduce CO2 emissions from power generation and make us less dependent on countries where these fossil fuels come from," Rutte said.
The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has also led to a rapid increase in energy prices in the Netherlands. He reckoned that the war and the "current situation on the energy markets" could continue for some time, Rutte said. That is why his government has decided to fill up the gas reserves for the winter of 2023-2024 now.
Le Maire said when visiting the Penly nuclear power plant near Dieppe on the Channel coast that there is no great industrial nation without nuclear power. And all of them "including those who made a different choice will one day return to nuclear power sooner or later." If countries were faced with the choice of abandoning their industry or reviving nuclear power, they would go back to nuclear energy, Le Maire said. "It's a matter of years, it won't happen immediately, but I'm convinced that a major industrial nation, whoever it is, will return to nuclear energy because it is the condition for sustaining its industry."
The French economy minister had previously defended himself against criticism, especially from Germany, of France's adherence to nuclear power. "We shouldn't be ashamed of being a major nuclear nation," Le Maire told power plant workers. Environmental protection reasons also speak in favor of nuclear power. "The decision for nuclear power is a decision for the climate."
French President Emmanuel Macron had already announced a "renaissance of French nuclear power" in February. The country is planning to build six new nuclear power plants, and the construction of eight more power plants by 2050 is to be examined. In recent months, however, the country has had massive problems with its nuclear power plants. In the meantime, dozens of reactors were not connected to the grid due to maintenance work or defects, so that Paris had to import more electricity from neighboring countries than it sold for the first time in decades.
