The Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (Fanc) said in a report for the government that updates would be needed to the Doel-4 and Tihange-3 nuclear plants if their operation is to be extended and that the government should order the start of planning for this by the end of January.
Any extension to the plants’ operating lifetimes should be for at least 10 years to “be able to develop a comprehensive action plan to improve nuclear safety”, Fanc said. It should also be confirmed that human resources are available to organise the extension of two reactors simultaneously with the dismantling of the other five, as well as the management and storage of radioactive waste.
Fanc added that the analysis was requested by the government just before Christmas. If a report due in March by grid operator Elia shows that security of energy supply after 2025 is threatened without nuclear, the government wants to consider keeping Doel-4 and Tihange-3 in operation longer.
The government has said it will take a decision in mid-March after guidance from Elia on whether the nuclear phaseout would threaten the energy supply.
Prime minister Alexander De Croo has said it is possible that certain nuclear reactors could be left to operate longer, but added this was “very unlikely”.
Belgium’s seven-party coalition has been wrestling for months over the country’s plans to permanently shut down all seven of its commercial nuclear plants – four at Doel and three at Tihange. The Greens are adamant a 2003 law setting out a nuclear exit by 2025 be respected, but the French-speaking liberals favour extending the life of the two newest reactors, Tihange-3 and Doel-4.
Ministers settled on a compromise in December whereby the last existing nuclear plant should close in 2025 as long as it did not lead to energy supply shortages. The coalition also decided that the government will invest €100m in research into future nuclear power, with emphasis on smaller modular reactors.
Doel-4, a 1,038-MW pressurised water reactor unit, began commercial operation in July 1985. Tihange-3, an identical unit, began commercial operation in September 1985.
The two stations are operated by French utility Engie and account for almost half of the country’s electricity production.
A July report by the Federal Planning Bureau warned that Belgium’s planned nuclear phaseout is expected to increase the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and energy imports.
The report said nuclear power is expected to supply 35% of Belgium’s electricity in 2023, but the share would plunge to zero at the start of 2026, resulting in increased gas generation as compensation and a ‘systematic increase’ in emissions.
