Belgium lax on nuclear safety – yet another incident

Greenpeace nuclear expert: ‘There’s always something’, DW, 13 Aug 15, After yet another incident at one of Belgium’s two nuclear power plants, DW spoke to Greenpeace expert Rianne Teule to assess the risk. She worries that safety is not being taken seriously enough. Early Thursday morning, the Tihange 3 nuclear reactor was shut down because of an “unplanned unavailability,” according to utility company GDF Suez.

The shutdown is the latest in a string of minor technical incidents at the plant since last July, including two minor fires, some of which have been attributed to human error. The incidents, the age of the plant – the oldest reactor dates to 1975 – and cracks that were discovered in the walls of Belgian reactors earlier this year have raised concerns over the safety of the country’s nuclear power supply.

DW spoke to Rianne Teule, campaign director with Greenpeace Belgium, about the state of Belgium’s nuclear industry and the future of the renewables sector.

DW: What can you tell me about this week’s technical incident at Tihange?

Rianne Teule: It’s relatively normal in any reactor that there’s a scram [emergency shutdown] caused by some kind of technical issue; that should not be a problem. But, last week, four workers were suspended [for security lapses by the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control]. In combination with the scram this week, that of course makes you think something more is going on, if the two things are related. Of course, Electrobel, the Tihange operator, has said that they aren’t related, that everything is normal. But [the incident] did cause FANC to pay more attention.

There have been quite a few minor incidents at Tihange in recent months.

There’s always something. And the safety culture being somewhat questionable, there’s the risk that these small incidents turn into something bigger.

How significant is that risk?

The Doel reactor, which is 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Antwerp, is in the harbor. An accident there would basically stop all activity in the harbor – an important part of the Belgian economy………..

Belgium decided to phase out nuclear energy a long time ago, in 2003. They set a maximum lifetime of 40 years per reactor, which meant that the first reactors would shut down in 2015. But the government didn’t actually do anything to prepare for the phaseout of nuclear. They didn’t invest enough in renewables to compensate for the nuclear shutdown, and that was used as an argument in 2014 to extend the lifetime of Tihange 1 by 10 years, and it’s being used as an argument now to extend the lifetimes of Doel 1 and 2. Tihange 1 was supposed to close in October this year……….

Belgium is also a very complicated country politically. While the nuclear energy sector is controlled by the federal government, renewable energy is controlled by the regional governments. There should be some kind of overarching energy vision managed by the federal government, but that doesn’t exist at the moment.

And, while these nuclear reactors stay operational, investment in other electricity supplies is more difficult because it’s not sure there will be space on the market and on the grid. What we would need is a gradual shutdown of nuclear, and simultaneously a gradual increase of renewables. Right now, it’s too risky for investors in renewables. There are no feed-in tariffs or priority access of renewables to the grid. There’s nothings like that. In Germany, that was the main incentive to invest in renewables………..http://www.dw.com/en/greenpeace-nuclear-expert-theres-always-something/a-18650290