The Dutch government will build two new nuclear power plants in the southern part of the Netherlands.

Completion of the new facilities is slated for 2035, and the two now power plants will be capable of supplying 13% of nation’s total electricity generation, Prime Minister Mark Rutte states Friday.

The grand plan is for the Netherlands to become less dependent on fossil fuels.

”By adding nuclear energy to our total energy mix, we’ll reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity production and make ourselves less dependent on countries where fossil fuels come from,” Rutte says at one of his weekly press conferences.

As in other nations across Europe, prices have surged over the past year, primarily due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has had choked the flow of Russian oil and gas into Europe.

The plan is for the two nuclear power plants to be constructed near the village of Borssele in the southern part of the Netherlands, already the site of the only Dutch nuclear power plant still operating and generating power, built in 1973.

The question of nuclear power has been fiercely debated in the Netherlands where climate and environmental matters have climbed up on the political agenda.

In recent years, however, atomic power has become a more accepted recourse to discuss in terms of lowering CO₂ emissions and combating climate change.

At his weekly meeting, Rutte also says that the government has decided to refill gas storages ahead of the 2023-’24 winter.

”This is because the war in Ukraine and also the current situation on the energy markets could last for some time,” says Rutte.

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