At present the dyke near the Dutch nuclear power plant in Borssele would not be able to withstand a storm of a magnitude likely to occur only once in every 4,000 years, which is a widely accepted standard for the strength of dykes.

Local Dike Warden Toine Poppelaars has confirmed reports saying that a storm of this strength would seriously damage the Borssele dyke if it occurred today.

On Wednesday, the infrastructure ministry decided that the dyke near Borssele would be reinforced to withstand a storm of a magnitude which occurs only once every 10,000 years, stronger than any other dyke in the province of Zeeland. Reinforcing the Borssele dyke - which is 800 metres long - will cost about 1.2 million euros. Construction work will start in the summer of 2012.

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