Energy firm Delta revises nuclear power plans, CEO quits

Zeeland-based energy company Delta has revised its plans to build a second nuclear power plant at Borssele and may now take a backseat role, supervisory board chairman Daan van Doorn told a shareholders meeting on Thursday.


Delta’s hope of getting a permit to build what would be the Netherlands’ second nuclear power station, took a knock recently when French energy giant EDF appeared to drop out of a potential partnership, the Financieele Dagblad said.
‘It appears that we cannot play a leading role. If a foreign player puts €5bn into the project, it should take the lead. Otherwise they will not do it. The risk of going it alone is too great,’ the paper quoted Van Doorn as saying.
Climate
Instead, Delta could focus on developing a political and financial climate to make a permit more likely, the supervisory board chairman said.
Van Doorn also announced that CEO Peter Boerma is leaving the company from January 1. The company hopes to have found a replacement within six months.
Boerma said in an interview with the FD in October that energy prices in the future could be too low to generate a proper return on the investment in a second nuclear power station.

Second licence

The government is keen to award a second nuclear power plant licence before 2015.
The former shareholders of energy company Essent – a number of local and provincial councils – said in September 2010 they are starting procedures to build a new plant. Essent is now owned by RWE.
The government has made it clear that although it supports an expansion of nuclear power, a new power station will have to be funded privately.

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