Since February 2018, I have repeatedly tried (see below) to draw the attention of our political leaders and Belgian citizens to the fact that closing Belgium’s nuclear power stations prematurely will have at least four negative effects:

– a negative effect on the cost of producing electricity;

– a negative effect on our balance of payments (due to the import of natural gas, whereas the cost of imported nuclear fuel is minimal);

– a negative effect on our security of supply (our stock of nuclear fuel represents two years’ requirements, whereas for natural gas it is less than one month’s Belgian consumption);

– and above all, a negative impact on the environment by significantly increasing our greenhouse gas emissions. 

For more than 5 years, I have been calling for an end to the 2003 law known as the “nuclear phase-out law”, which arbitrarily imposes the closure of Belgian nuclear power stations after 40 years of operation. The 2003 law was, by necessity, revised in 2013 and again in 2015 to allow Doel 1 and 2 and Tihange 1 to continue operating for 10 more years, i.e. for 50 years.

In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the life of at least 74 nuclear power plants to 60 years of operation. Some of these were built in the 1970s, just like our first plants. There is no doubt that Belgian plants are as safe, if not safer, than American plants.

It should be remembered that in Japan, the country of the Fukushima tragedy, 12 nuclear reactors are currently in operation after being brought up to the latest standards, 5 are ready to restart and 3 others are under construction. 

Back home, on 13 December 2023, with a knife to the throat, the Vivaldi government finally signed an agreement with ENGIE so that the Doel 4 and Tihange 3 power stations could operate for another 10 years (20 years would have been far preferable). That day, ENGIE’s executives popped the champagne (I’ll let you guess why). In the meantime, Engie hastened to make it difficult, if not impossible, to restart Doel 3 and Tihange 2 by selling the turbine rotors to EDF and decontaminating the primary circuits with acid. 

This would not have happened if our governments had abolished the 2003 “nuclear phase-out law” in time.