US-based Westinghouse and France’s EDF are only two suppliers left in running
Three nuclear power plant designs being considered for new build in the Netherlands are all suitable and would meet safety and siting requirements, nuclear regulator ANVS has said, while confirming that one design has been withdrawn from the process.
ANVS said it had come to its conclusions following a review of “self-studies” carried out on the three technologies at the request of the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth (KGG).
The three technologies are US-based Westinghouse’s AP1000, French state utility EDF’s EPR and Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power’s (KHNP) APR1400.
Westinghouse, EDF and KHNP were asked to study construction time and costs.
They were also asked to investigate whether their nuclear plants would fit on a site at the preferred new build location of Borssele.
ANVS said that since the studies were carried out, KGG has indicated that KHNP has withdrawn as a potential technology supplier, leaving only Westinghouse and EDF in the running.
Recent reports in the Netherlands said the government will back plans for the construction of four new large-scale nuclear power reactors and will more than triple the government funds earmarked for the new build programme from €4.5bn to €14bn ($4.9bn to $15.2 bn).
Borssele, in the province of Zeeland in the southwest of the Netherlands, is the country’s only commercial nuclear power station. It has a single 482-MW pressurised water reactor unit that began commercial operation in 1973. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, in 2022 it provided a 3.3% share of the country’s electricity production.
ANVS said: “These companies have tested their designs against our guidelines for safe design and safe operation of nuclear power plants (VOBK).
“They have also made it clear where their design differs from the VOBK, and how they still ensure that they achieve the level of safety required by law in the Netherlands.”
Last month it was reported that KHNP had also decided to withdraw from the bidding competition for a planned new nuclear power station project at the Krško nuclear power station site in Slovenia.
BusinessKorea said observers have speculated that KHNP is effectively withdrawing from the European nuclear market, conceding it to EDF and Westinghouse.
BusinessKorea quoted a KHNP official as saying the company decided not to participate in the project “based on business considerations”, including the Czech nuclear project and its focus on SMR development.
In July, KHNP was chosen as preferred bidder in a lucrative public tender to build two nuclear plants at Dukovany in the Czech Republic with the first unit scheduled to be online by 2036.
KHNP also provided four APR1400 plants for the Arab World’s first commercial nuclear power station at Barakah in the United Arab Emirates.
