Belgian nuclear regulator tells govt not to extend oldest reactors

Belgium's nuclear regulator has advised the government against a life extension of the country's three oldest reactors , proposing instead adjusting the extension plan of two newer reactors to keep them running over the next two winters. The recommendation is contained in an opinion submitted by the regulator to the Belgian government and seen by Reuters on Monday.

Belgium's nuclear regulator has advised the government against a

life extension of the country's three oldest reactors , proposing instead adjusting the extension plan of two newer reactors to keep them running over the next two winters.

The recommendation is contained in an opinion submitted by the regulator to the Belgian government and seen by Reuters on Monday. It has not been made public yet. Extending the lives of the three oldest reactors, Doel 1 and 2 and Tihange 1, would pose safety concerns, require additional nuclear fuel and mandate amendments to Belgium's nuclear regulatory framework, the regulator said.

It would also run contrary to the wishes of nuclear operator Electrabel, a subsidiary of French company Engie. Instead, the regulator recommended extending the life of two newer reactors, Doel 4 and Tihange 3, without stopping them for a full safety upgrade. Under the plan, the reactors would undergo a staggered plan of safety upgrades to meet more stringent requirements over time.

The Belgian government discussed the opinion at a Monday cabinet meeting and agreed to ask Electrabel to submit a safety assessment to the regulator to assess the new plan for Doel 4 and Tihange 3. Those two reactors had initially been supposed to be taken offline in 2025 for safety upgrades, for a restart in November 2026 "at the earliest," according to FANC.

That risked leaving a power gap of some 1.5 gigawatts over the next two winters, a "shortfall which cannot be compensated for in any other way ... (than) nuclear electricity production," FANC added, citing new information from Belgium's electricity operator Elia. FANC instead proposed a partial re-fueling of Doel 4 and Tihange 3 in the summer of 2025.

A spokesperson for the energy ministry declined to specify whether the government was definitively abandoning the idea of extending the three oldest reactors, but said the government had "taken note" of the opinion and would take it into account. Engie declined to comment on Monday beyond the statements of CEO Catherine MacGregor while delivering annual results last month.

"Doel 1 and 2 and Tihange 1 are not in the scope of an extension (discussion) at this stage, and we don't plan for them to be," MacGregor said on Feb 21. "They're almost 50 years old, they're at the end of their life ... there is no nuclear safety framework as such that would exist to provide for such a short-term extension."