What's up in Zeeland: Zeeland 2050 contradicts itself

07 May 2025

The local politics of our two provinces is often forgotten because of all the chaos in The Hague, but that certainly does not make it any less interesting or important! Any newsletter we put the politics of both provinces in the spotlight. The last newsletter of this board year looked at the Zeeland 20250 document, and we made a statement with several PJOs about the riots against AZCs we saw in Brabant.

This is Imme's article on Zeeland 2050, the PJOs' statement reads here!

Hugo de Jonge's vision for Zeeland 2050 contradicts itself: nuclear power has no place in a green Zeeland

By Imme Zander

In April 2025, Zeeland's deputies published their vision for Zeeland in 2050 [1]. The document, alongside its many AI-generated images, discusses healthcare, ov and education, among other things. But everything ultimately seems to revolve around just one topic: nuclear power.
On WNL on Sunday, Queen's Commissioner Hugo de Jonge also talked highly of the two new nuclear power plants planned. “We are the green powerhouse of the Netherlands,” De Jonge said, “and nuclear power fits in with that.”
Zeeland is indeed a source of green energy for the Netherlands, but nuclear power has absolutely no place there.

“Beautiful nature is a basic requirement for the whole process of Zeeland 2050.”. This is the first sentence of the heading “Nature” in Zeeland 2050. A few sentences later, the importance of biodiversity is stressed: “Biodiversity contributes to healthy agriculture and provides space for recreation and relaxation”. Here I completely agree. Biodiversity is one of the most beautiful aspects of Zeeland. Water biodiversity in particular is something to cherish; with 177 different fish species, Zeeland is the most diverse in the whole of the Netherlands [2].
Despite this so-called concern for Zeeland's aquatic nature, nuclear power plants are also constantly cited. This while the power plants, which use cooling water from the Westerschelde, are disastrous for our 177 fish species. For instance, by sucking up this cooling water, as many as 100 million fish are swallowed every year. The vast majority of these fish do not survive [3].
Furthermore, many of the fish found in our beautiful province are very sensitive to water temperature. A warming of one or two extra degrees can be lethal. During the discharge of cooling water, which has warmed as much as 7 degrees after the process, a plume of several square kilometres is created [3]. This plume is lethal to fish.

The Zeeland 2050 document also discusses the Zeeland economy. “Prosperous and sustainable” are words often used. This while nuclear power plants only drain our prosperity. In fact, Borssele turns a loss year on year, in 2019 it was €40 million [4] and it only gets more every year. This is because Borssele charges a fixed energy price of €45/MWh, however, the price needed to make a profit is around €130/MWh [5]. With wind and solar this is only €30/MWh. The loss of the nuclear plant has to be paid by PZEM, the owner of the nuclear plant. However, PZEM is half owned by the Zeeland province, and half by the 13 Zeeland municipalities [6].
So no “prosperity” for the province, just €40 million thrown away every year.

And then we get to those “green power source” which is mentioned several times in the document. That is the biggest lie about nuclear power that this paper claims. In fact, nuclear power is not green.
Firstly, the electricity grid in Zeeland is regularly overloaded. As a result, certain energy sources have to be switched off; since nuclear reactors cannot be switched off easily, the really green energy sources such as wind and solar are the ones to suffer. In fact, it appears that EPZ, the owner of the Borssele nuclear power plant, actively opposes new solar and wind projects [7].
Furthermore, the idea that nuclear power is CO2-free is simply not true. In fact, mining and refining the uranium ore emits between 66 and 146g of CO2 per kWh. For solar power this is 48g/kWh, and for wind it is only 12g/kWh [8]. These emissions will rise rapidly once we have to switch to poorer ore [9]. Because yes, this uranium can run out. At our current usage, the uranium ore will be completely consumed within 80 to 135 years (the lifetime of a nuclear power plant is around 80 years). If we converted all fossil fuels to nuclear power now, within 4 years there would be no uranium ore left on this planet [10].
In other words, the new nuclear power plants in Zeeland will most likely not even be able to finish their full lifespan, as it will either run out after a few years or will start emitting more than fossil.

Then lastly, the Zeeland 2050 document mentions that we have “becoming less dependent on energy from abroad”. Interesting, since the uranium that Borssele maintains comes mainly from Kazakhstan, a dictatorship that is good friends with Russia [11]. We also have many ties for our uranium with a French company called Orano, which has its uranium enriched in Russia [12]. Among other things, this company has many mines in Niger. In the mining villages in this country, the company consumes 20 million litres of water a day to purify the ore. This while citizens cannot even afford a water bottle. This, while 20% to 30% of all water resources disappeared, and groundwater has dropped so much that the vast majority of flora and fauna can no longer live here [13].
This is what our nuclear power is and will be dependent on: Russia, friends of Russia, and human rights violations. So if we really want to be less dependent, nuclear power is not the way.

Zeeland 2050 makes many good points. A Zeeland full of biodiversity, with great prosperity, that can be a green powerhouse, without dependence on other countries. That is a Zeeland I also strive for. But that Zeeland cannot exist as long as we bet on nuclear power. Nuclear power is directly opposed to all these ideals. So Hugo de Jonge and the deputy states, fight with us for that Zeeland you describe so beautifully. But realise that this Zeeland is only possible if we focus on real green energy.