10 Jan (NucNet): Belgium’s nuclear fleet produced 48% of the country’s electricity in 2018, making it the country’s main source of energy, the Brussels-based Belgian Nuclear Forum has said.
Fossil fuels had a 40% share of production in 2018, wind energy 7% and solar energy 5%.
The share of nuclear energy decreased compared to previous years because of planned maintenance and unplanned shutdowns, the forum said. The International Atomic Energy Agency puts the 2017 nuclear share at just over 49.8%.
Nuclear plants produced 27.3 TWh of electricity and nuclear energy accounted for 75% of all low-carbon electricity produced in Belgium. Solar energy and wind energy made up the remaining 25%. The sunny summer resulted in 5% (3.5 TWh) of electricity being generated by solar energy.
The forum said it had based its figure on statistics provided daily by grid operator Elia.
Belgium has a fleet of seven Belgian commercial nuclear reactors – three at Tihange near Liege and four at Doel near Antwerp.
Six of the seven had been offline last year for maintenance. This had led to concerns in Belgium about the possibility of blackouts this winter should temperatures drop and demand outstrip the now limited electricity supply.
Three nuclear plants remain offline. Tihange-2 is offline due to concrete degradation issues and Doel-1 and Doel-2 are offline due to the discovery of a leak at Doel-1. Tihange-1, Tihange-3, Doel-3 and Doel-4 are online.
