5 Sep (NucNet): Belgium’s Doel-3 and Tihange-2 nuclear units, both of which have been shut down since March, will not restart this winter, Jan Bens, director of Belgium’s Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (Fanc), told parliament.
Mr Bens appeared before Belgium’s parliament yesterday at a hearing on the possibility of insufficient electricity supply this winter, the national news agency Belga reported.
Mr Bens said he could not give a deadline for the restart of the two units. Fanc will probably receive the results from tests near the end of the autumn and will then take “a few months” to evaluate them, he said.
On 26 March, Electrabel shut down Doel-3 and Tihange-2 after tests related to the reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) showed “unexpected results”.
Both units were originally shut down in 2012 after flaws were discovered on their RPVs, but were allowed to restart in June 2013 after the FANC said the units were safe to operate.
Mr Bens also said the restart of Doel-4 in December, as specified in the schedule of nuclear operator Electrabel, is “feasible”.
Additional security measures have been put in place at all nuclear power stations in Belgium while the investigation into a possible act of sabotage that is suspected to have resulted in the shutdown of Doel-4 on 5 August.
On 14 August, Electrabel said “significant damage” had been discovered to the high-pressure turbine of Doel-4 and the unit would be unavailable until the end of December 2014.
There are seven reactor units in commercial operation in Belgium, four at Doel and three at Tihange. Together, they generate about 55 percent of the country’s electricity.
