– Edited By Chris Reed –
Dutch provinces will evaluate a plan with the Dutch government for the construction of a new nuclear power plant, sparking a head-to-head battle with utility Delta which has similar plans, a Dutch daily reported.
Delta, which owns half of the sole Dutch operating nuclear power plant Borssele, evaluated in June 2009 initially plans to build a second nuclear plant with four times the capacity of the first. It is looking for a partner to help develop the project.
But six Dutch provinces and various city councils which sold their stake in Dutch utility Essent to Germany's RWE in 2009 will also lodge a plan for the construction of a new plant, newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad reported on Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for the province North Brabant, which was the largest shareholder in Essent, confirmed the report.
The application will be evaluated with the Dutch Spatial Planning and Environment Ministry on Tuesday by Energy Resources Holding, a company set up by the provinces, the paper reported.
The submission will detail plans to construct a nuclear power plant with a maximum capacity of 2,500 megawatts.
Dutch authorities have phased out all nuclear power stations except for Borssele, due to stay operational until 2033, but have not ruled out the construction of a new plant. Current Dutch policy on nuclear new build remains uncertain with the government putting off a decision on its formal stance until at least 2011.
RWE suffered a blow in March to its legal battle to claim a 50 percent stake in Borssele — which has a capacity of 512 megawatts — as an appeals court upheld a ruling that it must stay in public hands.
Delta and Essent jointly operated the Borssele nuclear power plant, but Essent said in September that RWE had agreed to pay 950 million euros less for the acquisition to exclude the plant.