Nuclear power in Belgium
In March 2022, due to the Russian invasion on Ukraine, Belgium decided to postpone closing of two reactors by 10 additional years.
Thirteen OECD countries (Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, Norway, Turkey, Portugal, Spain) joined forces to build a pilot nuclear reprocessing installation.
The atoomwijk, a housing project for workers on private land near the site, was a scientific village unique in Europe at the time.
In 1960, near the same site, NV Belgonuclaire, a joint venture between SCK•CEN, Electrabel and Tractebel received its first plutonium from the United States, with the goal of industrially producing MOX fuel.
Plans for an eighth reactor were scrapped, instead utilities Electrabel and SPE took a 25% participation in the French Chooz-B nuclear power plant.
Prior to parliament placing a moratorium on nuclear reprocessing in 1993,[14] 670 tonnes of spent fuel from the commercial reactors was processed in La Hague, France.
[15] A national agency is responsible for radioactive waste management(ONDRAF/NIRAS), including transport, treatment, conditioning, storage, and disposal.
This entails encasing the waste in modular concrete boxes which will be stacked inside structures resembling tumuli in Dessel.
Legally, the nuclear plants' private owners, mainly Electrabel, are set to pay for this through the Synatom-managed phase-out fund.
[26] The following year a government appointed commission reported that nuclear power was important to Belgium and recommended further development.
[30] A report published in 2005 by the Federal Planning Bureau noted that in many parts of Belgium nuclear power makes up more than 50% of the electricity generated.
[33][34] In 2009, based on the GEMIX report, the government decided to extend the lifetimes of the three oldest nuclear power plants until 2025.
Although intermediate deadlines have been missed or pushed back, on 30 March 2018 the Council of Ministers confirmed the 2025 phase-out date and stated draft legislation would be brought forward later in the year.
The CRM required approval from the European Commission: the Belgian Government needs to prove these subsidies are necessary and are not illegal state aid.
[41] In late 2020 the De Croo Government was formed with liberal, socialist, green parties and Flemish Christian Democrats.
The coalition agreement confirmed the nuclear phase-out by 2025, with a "plan B" option to continue 2GW of capacity if by November 2021 a report would show need for it.
[42] In 2021 Minister Van der Straeten worked quickly on revamping the Capacity Remuneration Mechanism (CRM) necessary for subsidies for gas-fired power plants.
In April 2021 the Council of Ministers authorised the construction of 2,300 MWe of gas-fired (fossil fuel) plants under the CRM auction system.
On 27 August 2021, the Commission gave formal approval, on the condition all nuclear power plants would be phased out as planned.
This essentially closed the fallback plan, as subsidies for gas-powered plants along with a continuation of some nuclear capacity would require a new approval procedure.
As Minister of Energy Van der Straeten was successfully implementing the nuclear phaseout and replacing it by a fleet of new fossil gas power plants, her predecessor Marie-Christine Marghem (MR) criticized the decision as harmful for the climate and called for extension of the low-carbon nuclear power plants lifetime.
[45] Permits for Engie's gas-powered plant in Vilvoorde were blocked by provincial and Flemish authorities, under N-VA politicians who are opposed to a nuclear phaseout.
[47] As Open Vld with Prime Minister De Croo joined MR's doubts, the January 2022 report by FANC showed a nuclear continuation is possible if started immediately.
In February 2022, due to the Russian invasion on Ukraine, a nuclear phaseout with new gas power plants was untenable and Minister Van der Straeten was forced to switch to the fallback plan.
Mid August 2012 it was revealed that planned inspections, carried out in June, using a new type of ultrasound technique had detected thousands of quasi-laminar flaws in the forged rings of Doel 3's reactor vessel.
[57][58] At the request of the European Greens, materials expert and nuclear consultant Ilse Tweer, had also published her own report in which she argued against restarting the reactors.
[67] In November 2016 it was disclosed that FANC had sent two letters to the operator of Tihange Nuclear Power Station expressing its concern about the safety and attitude at the plant.
[71] Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann expects anti-nuclear petition drives to start in at least six European Union countries in 2012 with the goal of having the EU abandon nuclear power.
Under the EU's Lisbon Treaty, petitions that attract at least one million signatures can seek legislative proposals from the European Commission.
[73] In January 2013 an international protest against the Tihange power plant was organized by GreenLeft in Maastricht with about 1,500 participants from the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium.
