The Belgian government plans to extend through the winter of 2025-26 three nuclear reactors that were supposed to shut down in 2025, a source familiar with the matter said.
“The goal is not to restart another reactor for ten years, but we must be pragmatic. We are studying the possibility of expanding the reactors for the winter of 2025-2026,” this source familiar with the matter told AFP, referring in particular to the uncertain contribution of the French nuclear park to the supply of electricity.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo was in charge of questioning the operator, the French group Engie, as well as the Belgian nuclear safety authority (AFCN) about the terms of this temporary extension, this source said. Last year, the government had already decided to extend for ten years, starting in November 2026, two other reactors in the nuclear park, Doel 4, near the port of Antwerp (north) and Tihange 3, in the Liège region (east ).
This double extension was the subject of an agreement concluded on January 9 between the government and Engie, which will become 50/50 partners in a joint venture for these additional ten years of operation. The operator of the electricity transmission network in Belgium, the Elia group, has identified a possible supply deficit estimated between 0.9 and 1.2 GW, in the event of consumption peaks during this winter 2025-2026 after the scheduled shutdown of various reactors.
Two reactors offline in September
The brief planned extension could affect the Doel 1, Doel 2 and Tihange 1 reactors -supposedly they will stop producing in 2025-, but also Doel 4 and Tihange 3, according to the same source. Upkeep and maintenance work is theoretically planned for Doel 4 and Tihange 3 during the winter of 2025-26, but this schedule could be adapted to maintain their production.
Belgium, which had seven reactors in operation until the summer of 2022, “offline” two of them on September 23, 2022 and then on January 31, 2023, respectively Doel 3 and Tihange 2 after 40 years of service. The exit from nuclear energy, sealed by a 2003 law during the first participation of environmentalists in the federal government, has created a stir in the Belgian Executive since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine a year ago.
The increase in gas prices, in a context of restrictions on Russian purchases of hydrocarbons in Europe, and the fear of electricity shortages in Europe led the government to negotiate in extremis with Engie the ten-year extension of Tihange 3 and Doel 4, which was also supposed to stop definitively in 2025. But this commitment was considered insufficient by the French-speaking liberals – partners of the environmentalists for the most part -. He was also strongly criticized by the Flemish nationalists of the N-VA, the first opposition party.
Source: BFM TV
