E=MC²
After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the political tide turned against nuclear energy, which was already a heavily debated issue in Dutch politics. When the nuclear power plant in Dodewaard – the first built in the Netherlands – ceased production in 1997, only three sites where nuclear fission is performed remained; a second nuclear power plant (
KCB) in Borssele, a research reactor and medical isotopes production facility (
NRG) in Petten and a university research reactor (
RID) in Delft. The Fukushima calamity in 2011 made the risks of nuclear energy apparent once more. In recent years however, it has become less controversial and increasingly viewed as a possibility to reduce CO2 emissions for the transition to sustainability.