Strasbourg, 10/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The German Länder of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, which border on Belgium, announced on Tuesday 8 March that they were to lodge a joint complaint with the EU and the United Nations against the extension of the active lifespan of three Belgian nuclear reactors until 2025.
The initially planned lifespan of units (reactors) 1 and 2 of the Doel power station and unit 1 of the Tihange power station was 40 years, so these reactors should have ceased operating in 2015. The Belgian nuclear safety authority, however, finally granted them an extension certificate allowing them to continue operating until 2025. The law confirming the extension is due to be approved by the Belgian parliament shortly.
The complaint by the two German Länder will be lodged with the European Commission and with the Geneva-based UN committee on the Espoo Convention (on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context).
The two German regions highlight the “transboundary” dimension of a Belgian decision to extend the lives of these reactors, taken without their being consulted and without their having been sent the required impact study.
Just as it had done with Luxembourg and the Netherlands in January, Belgium provided guarantees to Germany - which is in the process of phasing out nuclear energy - of the safety of its nuclear installations during a visit to Brussels of German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks on 1 February (see EUROPE 11482).
Concern has grown in these three countries following a series of recent incidents affecting the Doel 3 and Tihange 2 reactors which were restarted at the end of December 2015 having been stopped for almost two years because of safety fears linked to cracks in their vessel walls. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)