Belgium to restart nuclear reactors after probe into cracks

Brussels (dpa) – Two large nuclear-power reactors that have been offline for almost a year amid concerns over potential cracks in their core tanks will now reopen, Belgian authorities said Friday.

The country‘s Federal Agency for Nuclear Control said it believes that operations can safely resume, following several rounds of tests.

The GDF Suez energy company has said that the reactors, if allowed to do so, would not restart before June.

Green politicians and activists had advocated for the reactors to stay shut. A leader of the European Parliament‘s Green group, Rebecca Harms, said in March that a restart would be “irresponsible,” arguing that the cause of the defect had still to be determined.

The Doel 3 reactor has been offline since June, when service checks carried out with a new ultrasound technology revealed “several indications of defects” in the steel base of the core tank.

The Tihange 2 reactor, which was produced by the same, now-defunct Dutch manufacturer, was then shut down in August to undergo similar inspections.

Between them, the Doel power plant – which has been in service for more than three decades in the north of the country – and the Tihange plant, which is located in eastern Belgium, meet about 55 per cent of the country‘s electricity requirements.

Belgium has adopted a nuclear phaseout plan that foresees the shutting down of Doel 3 in 2022 and the complete abandonment of nuclear energy by 2025. dpa amh npr Author: Alexandra Mayer-Hohdahl

http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/belgium-to-restart-nuclear-reactors-after-probe-into-cracks_281387.html

Experts okay restart of worrisome Belgian nuclear plants

by Staff Writers
Brussels (AFP) Jan 05, 2013

https://nuclear-news.net/2013/01/06/experts-okay-restart-of-worrisome-belgian-nuclear-plants/

Reactor vessel cracks revealed in Belgium earlier this month spark international inspections

http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2012/Belgian_reactor_international_checks

As inspectors investigate possible manufacturing shortcomings in the reactor pressure vessel of the No 3 reactor at the Doel Nuclear Power Plant in Belgium – which earlier this month was discovered to have cracks – nuclear safety authorities in other countries are conduction their own test to root out similar flaws.

Charles Digges, 30/08-2012

[….]

The reactor vessel at the Doel No 3 plant was manufactured by the now-bankrupt Dutch firm Rotterdam Drydock Company, which sold a number of such vessels to a variety of international customers. The discovery of the cracks at Doel’s Unit 3 by the use of a new ultrasound measuring technique, sent a nervous ripple through the international nuclear industry.

Rotterdam Drydock Company had sold 21 reactor vessels to nuclear power plants in the US, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK, according to the Associated Press, though that information was not released until later in the month.