Nuclear energy has never really flourished in the Netherlands, while in other countries such as France nuclear energy is an important source of energy. In the Netherlands, voices in favor of nuclear energy are also starting to be heard again. Read here how nuclear energy was received in the Netherlands.
Nuclear energy
To learn more about the history of nuclear energy, it is useful to first find out what nuclear energy is. Nuclear energy is generated by splitting atoms. An atom is a small ball. Every substance is made up of atoms. These atoms are made up of all smaller spheres, protons and neutrons. Even smaller spheres, the electrons, float around the spheres. To split an atom, a neutron is shot at the atoms. The atom that is hit by the neutron bursts into groups of neutrons and protons. These groups collide with other atoms, and they also explode. This way, the reaction continues automatically if you only give a small tap at the beginning.
The atoms used for this process are atoms of the metal uranium. The atom of this metal consists of many protons and neutrons. Uranium is the metal with the most protons and neutrons that occurs in nature, and is therefore very suitable for use in nuclear power plants.
This reaction takes place in the so-called reactor vessel of the power plant. Water is poured into this, which is heated by the large amount of energy (i.e. heat) released when splitting uranium. However, not enough energy is released to immediately boil the water. The heated water flows away again, and as it flows away it heats up the next batch of water so that this water can reach the boiling point. The steam from the boiling water turns a dynamo, generating electricity. There are still many thick walls and protective layers around the reactor vessel to prevent accidents from happening. The groups of protons and neutrons that remain after fission become radioactive. This means that it emits invisible radiation that is very bad for your health.
The reactor vessel contains all kinds of rods filled with small uranium tablets. So-called control rods hang above the uranium rods, which fit exactly between the uranium rods. If these are placed between the bars, the chain reaction stops immediately. This prevents additional radiation from being released in the event of an accident, because if something is wrong the reaction can be stopped immediately with the control rods.
If the radiation were released and someone came into contact with it, that person’s DNA would be damaged. DNA is a substance that is found in every cell of your body . This substance determines how your body is constructed and what you look like. You pass on your DNA to your children, which makes them look like you too. It determines what color eyes you have, but also how many legs you have and how your bones are constructed. If the DNA is damaged, the information about what you look like is damaged. But because every cell in your body contains the same DNA, your eye color will not simply change when you come into contact with the radiation. This would require every piece of DNA that controls eye color to be changed in the same way in every cell of your eye. So that chance is practically zero. But it can cause cancer, for example. If a piece of DNA is damaged in such a way that the cell receives the information to divide uninhibitedly, tumors can develop. The damaged DNA is passed on to the new cells, which also continue to divide.
The rise and fall of nuclear energy in the history of the Netherlands
The rise of nuclear energy in the Netherlands was not easy. Even before the Second World War, the government of the Netherlands purchased a large amount of uranium to use for nuclear energy after the war. Soon a research reactor was built in Norway in collaboration with Norway, and the US lost the nuclear power monopoly it once had.
In 1955, Eisenhower gave a speech on nuclear energy. He says that there will be a committee that will monitor the peaceful use of nuclear energy. After this speech, the Netherlands gained access to American technology and they started collaborating with the US instead of Norway. As a token of the cooperation, the Netherlands received a small American nuclear reactor in 1957, which was exhibited at Schiphol.
The following year an atomic conference is held in Vienna. More than 600 people from 62 states are in attendance. The purpose of the conference is to establish a separate United Nations body whose purpose is to ensure that nuclear energy is used properly and peacefully. Rolf Bunch, the representative of the States General of the United Nations at the atomic conference, promises economic growth and the strengthening of peace as a result of the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Now the first real nuclear reactors are being built in the Netherlands. The reactor in Petten was opened in 1960 , followed by one in Dodewaard nine years later. At the opening, the engineers predicted that in 2000, nuclear energy will account for 40 to 50% of energy production by nuclear power stations. In 1973, four years later, another power station was opened in Borssele. However, there were more protests at the opening of Borssele than at Dodewaard, because the environmental movement had only recently emerged. Due to the protest, the cabinet of then Prime Minister Den Uyl did not make a decision on new nuclear reactors, but the subsequent cabinet led by Van Acht made plans for new reactors again in 1978.
But when an accident happened in America in 1979 and the Chernobyl disaster occurred in 1986, protests flared up again. Some attempts are made to have new reactors built, but the plans are quickly suppressed by the people. In 1994, Groenlinks managed to win a motion to close the reactor in Borssele. Two years later, the reactor in Dodewaard closed, and when Borssele finally closed in 2003, the nuclear era in the Netherlands seemed to be over for good.