23 Oct (NucNet): Possible lifetime extensions for the Doel-1 and -2 nuclear reactor units in Belgium will not go beyond 2025, the agreement for the country’s new centre-right federal government says.
The agreement for the new government, which took office on 11 October 2014 and is led by liberal prime minister Charles Michel, says that an immediate “legislative initiative” has to be taken to extend the operational lifetimes of Doel-1 and -2 in order to guarantee security of supply.
The agreement does not mention any of the five other nuclear units in Belgium, except that they will have to be permanently shut down in 2025 under the terms of a planned nuclear phaseout. Belgium’s seven reactors generate about 55 percent of the country’s electricity.
Electrabel, Belgium’s nuclear operator, told NucNet that under current legislation, Doel-1, which has been operating since February 1975, longer than any of the country’s reactors, is scheduled to be permanently shut down on 15 February 2015. Doel-2, which began commercial operation in December 1975, is scheduled for permanent shutdown on 31 December 2015. Doel-3 and -4 both began commercial operation in the 1980s.
The new four-party coalition government would like to extend the shutdown deadlines to 31 March 2015 for Doel-1 and 31 March 2016 for Doel-2, therefore allowing them to operate for 45 days and 90 days longer respectively.
This short-term measure aims to improve the security of supply and address concerns that Belgium is faced with insufficient electricity supply for the next two winters because three of the seven commercially operational nuclear reactors in the country are unavailable due to unplanned outages.
The agreement also says the new government should make a decision “as soon as possible, but no later than 31 December 2014” on the possible long-term operation of Doel-1 and -2 in order to ensure security of supply in the medium-term.
However, long-term operation will not go beyond 2025, the deadline set in 2011 for the permanent shutdown of all nuclear stations in Belgium, confirming the government’s commitment to Belgium’s proposed phase-out.
An Electrabel spokesperson told NucNet the company is ready to negotiate the “possibilities and conditions” with the new state secretary for energy.
Doel-1 will have to be shut down at the beginning of 2015 with or without a decision on the lifetime extension of the unit because its operating licence will expire.
According to Electrabel, Doel-2 is scheduled to shut down for three weeks from 18 April 2015 for a planned refuelling and maintenance outage.
The decision on the possible long-term operation will take into account tests being carried on the reactor pressure vessels of Doel-3 and Tihange-2, the agreement says.
On 26 March, Electrabel shut down Doel-3 and Tihange-2 after tests related to the 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 Belgium’s Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (Fanc) said the units were safe to operate.
In September 2014, Fanc director Jan Bens said results from the tests will probably be available by the end of the autumn and it will then take “a few months” to evaluate them. As a result, the two units will not be available for the coming winter.
The new federal government agreement also says that planned interconnections with other countries, the evolution of Belgium’s production capacity and a recalculation of the country’s nuclear tax will be taken into account when making the decision on lifetime extensions.
In July 2014, Electrabel said it would reconsider its operation of nuclear stations in Belgium after it lost an appeal against a government decision to increase the nuclear tax in 2012 to €549 million, which the company says is higher than its operational income.
Negotiations on the lifetime extension of Doel-1 and -2 will include Fanc, who has said said it will not renew the licences of the two units unless security and safety upgrades were made in line with conditions set out in an action plan published in 2012.
Electrabel has said extended operation of the two reactors would “cost millions of euros” for safety upgrades and would not be worth the investment if the extension is for less than five years.
The agreement for a new federal government also says that projects at Belgium’s nuclear research centre SCK•CEN will be supported. Projects include research into solutions for highly radioactive waste, medical radioisotopes, and testing of materials for nuclear fusion reactors.
The Myrrha research reactor project is mentioned in the agreement as an important and “necessary” initiative.
The agreement says the government will work towards solutions for the management of long-lived intermediate-level and high-level nuclear waste.
There is a nuclear waste disposal facility in Belgium under construction at the Dessel site, but it is only for short-lived low- and intermediate-level waste.
