State will have to foot bill for nuclear plants, experts warn

The Dutch government has been warned it is likely to have to meet the majority of the cost of building two new nuclear power stations, a key pledge in its coalition agreement.

The cabinet has sounded out options to build a second plant at Borssele, in Zeeland, and another at a different location, possible Terneuzen in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, at an estimated cost of €8 to €20 billion.

The previous government had hoped that private investors would meet much of the cost of building and running the facilities.

But investors see nuclear power as a riskier enterprise than developments such as wind farms because the developments take a long time to build and are subject to delays. That means it can take a decade or more before they see a return on their investment.

NRC quoted a source saying that the coalition accepted it would probably have to foot most of the bill itself. “That’s how it is with nuclear plants in other European countries at the moment”.

Ministers see nuclear power as essential to meeting the country’s energy needs after the shutdown of the Groningen gas field last year. The right-wing government also wants to wind down subsidies for renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

The previous energy minister, Rob Jetten, had hoped to persuade large-scale investors such as pension funds to contribute to the development costs, but the response has been lukewarm.

One pension scheme, PME, said it was willing to consider investing, but only if it was guaranteed returns based on the plant’s future income. That would require the government to forward-fund the payments until the facility started making money.

Nuclear power stations in other European countries have gone several times over budget, partly because of delays during construction. The Flamanville 3 station in France was scheduled to be finished within five years and cost €3 billion, but the project is now 12 years overdue and the total bill has risen to €13 billion.

Pieter Boot, former head of climate and energy at the government’s environmental planning agency PBL, told NRC there were doubts about whether nuclear power was the most efficient form of energy in the long term.

“The scale of the investment doesn’t seem to be the biggest problem to me,” he said. “But the risks associated with it are. The trouble is that electricity from a nuclear power station is more expensive than from offshore wind and solar.”