 In 1994, government and parliament decided to close down the Borssele plant as of 2004.However, due to legal action by owners and employees of the plant and changes in government policy in 2002, the decommissioning was delayed until 2013, meaning the plant would exactly fulfill its originally intended life span of 40 years.In recent years nuclear energy has become less controversial in the Netherlands and is increasingly viewed as one of many possibilities to reduce carbon emissions and increase national energy self-reliance.