Borssele nuclear plant in Zeeland stayed offline for over two weeks after leak
The Borssele nuclear power plant has produced no electricity for more than two weeks after a leak was discovered in its nuclear section. NOS reported on Thursday that the plant is back online now.
The plant was taken offline on June 27. During subsequent repair work, technicians found an additional pipe that required replacement.
The prolonged outage came at a sensitive time. The Tweede Kamer recently approved an indefinite extension of the 53-year-old plant’s operating life, which had been scheduled to close in 2033. At the same time, the cabinet is seeking sites for two much larger new nuclear plants capable of generating roughly six times Borssele’s output. Only Zeeland has come forward as interested.
The latest problems followed an earlier extended maintenance outage. The work, originally planned to last three weeks, stretched into more than two months because of multiple necessary repairs.
Three weeks after the plant returned to service, it was shut down again to address a leak. The additional pipe issue was identified during those repairs.
EPZ, the operator of the Borssele Nuclear Power Plant, said the weakened pipe has since been repaired. “No peculiarities emerged from this, which is why we are continuing work on the safe startup of the plant,” a spokesperson said at the time.
Over the past decade, the Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ANVS) has recorded between four and 11 reportable events per year at Borssele. These have included small leaks, a radioactively contaminated shoe on an employee attempting to leave the site, and malfunctioning security signals. In most cases, including the recent leaking valve, the ANVS has concluded, "The event had no consequences for people and the environment.”
The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, or INES, rates nuclear events from 0, meaning no safety significance, to 7, a major accident. The most serious event at Borssele occurred in 1996 at level 2 — an incident involving increased radiation levels or major contamination — when ventilation dampers were accidentally left open.
Zeeland’s King’s Commissioner, Hugo de Jonge, has advocated strongly for new nuclear capacity in the province. “Borssele has brought us a lot,” De Jonge told Radio 1. “A lot of employment and new business activity.”
The life-extension proposal now awaits consideration by the Senate. Parallel discussions continue on the location for the two new plants. The cabinet has identified the Eemshaven in Groningen as the only technically feasible site, though Groningen has mounted fierce opposition.
