Dodewaard nuclear power plant is a nuclear power plant with a boiling water reactor (BWR) of General Electric in the Dutch town of Dodewaard. The plant halted energy production in 1997. Its final decommissioning has been postponed for a period of 40 years and was placed into a safe enclosure configuration in 2005. History The plant in Dodewaard was the first nuclear power plant established in the Netherlands. It was built by the Dutch government, mainly as a means to obtain know-how about the construction and exploitation of a nuclear power plant. The plant was therefore relatively small with a net output of only 58 MW. Construction was started in 1965 and the facility opened on 26 March 1969, in the presence of Queen Juliana. After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the political tide turned against nuclear energy, which was already a heavily debated issue in Dutch politics. With no prospect of the construction of new nuclear power plants in the Netherlands, Dodewaard's function as a research centre became superfluous. The ownership decided to halt electricity production at the relatively small and expensive plant in 1997. Closure On 26 March 1997 the complex was shut down, seven years earlier than originally planned. The complex is being dismantled in phases. Firstly, all fissionable material was removed, followed by a complete closure of the buildings to trap any remaining radioactivity. After a period of forty years, the plant will be demolished and the site will become available for other purposes. On 9 April 2005, the last remaining fissionable material was removed and on 1 June 2005, the forty year waiting period went into effect. The complex remains tightly guarded. On 21 May 2020 a fire broke out on the roof of the outer containment building which took several hours to bring under control. According to the authorities no radioactive material was released into the environment during the incident. References External links Nuclear power stations with closed reactors Nuclear power stations in the Netherlands Buildings and structures in Gelderland Neder-Betuwe