Dec. 20, 2021 2:53 p.m.
In the middle of 2022, the production of domestic natural gas in Groningen will cease in the Netherlands. In order to meet the country’s energy needs, the new coalition government under the previous Prime Minister Rutte is relying on nuclear energy. That is laid down in the coalition agreement presented last week. With its negative attitude towards nuclear energy in Europe, Germany is increasingly isolated.
The new government of the Netherlands is planning to build two new nuclear power plants (AKW) in the coming years and to extend the service life of the country’s last nuclear power plant in operation. To this end, the coalition agreement that has just been negotiated provides EUR 500 million as start-up financing or aid for private investors.
Without nuclear energy, the coalition agreement also aims to reduce CO₂ emissions by 55 percent by 2035 and the goal of “climate neutrality” by 2050. The Dutch coalition agreement states:
“Nuclear energy can complement the energy mix of sun, wind and geothermal energy and can be used to generate hydrogen. It also makes us less dependent on the import of gas. For this reason, the nuclear power plant in Borssele will remain in operation longer, taking safety into account.
In addition, this government is taking the necessary steps to build two new nuclear power plants. ”
The coalition agreement of the five future joint ruling parties could only now, nine months after the parliamentary elections in March of this year, be fully negotiated and signed. It was the longest and most difficult coalition formation in the Netherlands to date. The old and new Prime Minister Mark Rutte ruled the country provisionally during this time.
Gas production in Groningen is stopped
So far, the energy needs of the highly industrialized Netherlands with its 17 million inhabitants have mainly been satisfied with self-produced natural gas. Surprisingly for many, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs announced in September 2019 that it would completely stop gas production in the largest production area around Groningen by 2022 and essentially shut down the gas field “for safety reasons”. From mid-2022, gas will be produced in the Netherlands “only in exceptional cases, especially on cold winter days”, as stated in the letter from then Minister for Economy and Climate Eric Wiebes.
Germany will also be affected by the failure of gas supplies from the neighboring country, as it has so far covered a considerable part of its energy needs with Dutch gas. In the north-west of Germany alone, the gas supply of around 3 million households has been connected to Groningen so far.
The phenomenon of earthquakes that occur sporadically in the completely flat region is associated with gas production in Groningen, which is why the continued operation of the gas field met with increasing protests from the local population and also with skepticism across the country. In 2015 it was determined that 30 billion euros are needed to make all buildings in the affected region earthquake-proof.
The EU is divided on the issue of nuclear power
The European Union (EU) is divided into supporters and opponents of nuclear energy. France demands the recognition of the electrical energy produced in its nuclear power plants as “green energy” and its positive consideration in the climate balance. Almost no CO₂ is emitted in the nuclear power plants, argue the relevant EU representatives of the country.
Opponents of nuclear energy raise safety concerns and always refer to the consequences of the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents. In addition, the supply of fissile material is not inexhaustible, the extraction of which is becoming increasingly expensive.
Germany had previously decided to phase out nuclear energy during the red-green coalition under the chancellorship of Gerhard Schröder (SPD). After the election victory of the CDU / CSU in 2005 and the election of Angela Merkel as Federal Chancellor, however, it was initially decided to continue operating the German nuclear power plants. After the serious accident at the Japanese nuclear power plant in Fukushima on March 11, 2011 as a result of a devastating tsunami in the Pacific, Ms. Merkel made a sudden change of heart and immediately enforced the decision to abandon nuclear power by the end of 2022.
There are currently six nuclear power plants in operation in Germany. However, three of them (Brokdorf, Grohnde and Gundremmingen C) will be taken offline in the next few days, the last three nuclear power plants (Emsland, Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2) by December 31, 2022 at the latest. In 2020, the currently six German ones were still producing Nuclear power plants combined 61 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, which corresponds to 12.5 percent of the total electrical energy requirement in Germany.
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