The new coalition government of the Netherlands has agreed to build two nuclear power reactors in a bid to meet more ambitious climate goals. The country, which will increase the ambition of its existing climate goals for 2030 from a 49% cut below 1990 levels to at least a 55% cut, intends to invest an extra €35bn on its energy transformation over the next decade, including investments in hydrogen, heat and electricity networks. The new government plans to introduce a floor price for carbon allowances under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and to require all new cars to be zero emissions by 2030.
In December 2020, the Dutch power company EPZ unveiled a proposal to build two nuclear reactors in the Netherlands. The construction of a new reactor at Borssele would require an investment of €8bn to €10bn and would take 8 years. The company owns and operates the 485 MW Borssele nuclear plant that was commissioned in Zeeland in 1973 and is expected to stop operations in 2033. EPZ is also seeking to extend the life of the country’s only nuclear power plant.