Brussels, 02/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - Following on from Germany, Spain and Switzerland, which have already announced their decisions to close their nuclear power plants by 2022, 2028 and 2034 respectively, and Italy, which has recently said it would not use nuclear power as a source of energy, Belgium is considering the phased closure of its seven reactors.
The various factions of the new Belgian federal government, currently being formed, agreed on Sunday 30 October on a plan for a phased withdrawal from nuclear power, on the basis of a shelved 2003 law. Belgium decided in 2009 to extend the lifespan of its oldest reactors by 10 years. However, since the country has been so long without a government, this measure never made it to the statute books. Since then, the debate on the merits of nuclear power has been re-opened in Belgium, following the accident at the Fukushima power plant in Japan on 11 March.
The plan discussed on Sunday provides initially for the closure within four years of Belgium's three oldest reactors. All nuclear power plants will be closed by 2025, on condition that Belgium, 55% of whose electricity needs (44 billion kilowatt hours annually) are generated by nuclear power, secures supply from other sources.
If the power plants at Doel (four reactors with a generating capacity 2,839 megawatts) in Flanders and at Tihange (three reactors generating 3,024 megawatts) in Wallonia were to close, Belgium would have to find new capacity of the order of 5,863 megawatts.
Belgian group Electrabel, a subsidiary of GDF Suez, which owns the two power plants, was taken aback by the decision, particularly after the studies conducted by the national regulator and by the federal administration, the identical findings of which led the country to its decision to extend the lives of its oldest reactors. (EH/transl.rt)