Belgium Not Closing Tihange 1 Nuclear Plant

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Belgium has decided not to close one of its oldest nuclear reactors over fears that it may not be able to fill the energy gap.

The coalition government this week took the controversial decision to postpone the closure of the Tihange 1 reactor, scheduled for shutdown in 2015, and instead extended its life until 2025. Tihange 1, a pressurised water reactor (PWR) which began life in 1975, has a generating capacity of 962-megawatts (MW) and is owned by Electrabel SA (Brussels, Belgium), a subsidiary of GDF Suez SA (EPA:GSZ) (Paris, France). The news comes in the same week that Spain's government cleared the way for a 10-year extension for its oldest nuclear power plant at Garona. For additional information, see July 9, 2012, article - Spain's Oldest Nuclear Plant to Stay Open.

The Council of Ministers claimed that keeping Tihange 1 open for another decade would "avoid the risk that 500,000 to 1 million inhabitants are plunged into darkness at times during the winter."

However, Electrabel expressed its disappointment that the government has decided to shut down the Doel 1 and 2 reactors in 2015, as planned. The two reactors have generating capacities of 433 MW each and will have reached their 40-year life by that time.

Belgium gets more than 50% of its electricity from seven reactors located at the Tihange and Doel plants, all owned and operated by Electrabel. They have a combined generating capacity of more than 5,940 MW.

The coalition government's decision to keep Tihange 1 open longer is a softer approach than its position at the end of last year when it announced that it planned to exit nuclear power completely by 2025. For additional information, see November 3, 2011, article - Belgium to Scrap Nuclear Power.

GDF claimed the decision to shut Doel 1 and 2 by 2015 goes against an agreement made with the previous government in 2009 to extend their operational lives. The company has warned the government that it will not invest in extending the lives of Belgium's nuclear fleet unless Doel 1 and 2 and Tihange 1 received 10-year extensions.

"If the government decides to shut the plants, we shut the plants, we're ready," said GDF Suez CEO, Gerard Mestrallet, recently. "If it wants to extend the plants' lifespan, we have to invest - €1 billion for the three reactors, even a bit more - and for us it will be like any rational investment. If we invest it will be for 10 years, so we look at the guarantee and visibility over 10 years. If it's not the case, we won't invest and therefore the plants' [lifespan] will not be extended."

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