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Belgian nuclear safety in question, after repeated reactor shutdowns

Renewed shutdowns cast doubt on Belgian nuclear safety, DW, 21.04.2016 Martin Kuebler, Brussels

Belgium’s nuclear authority has said its power plants are safe after calls by Germany to shut down two aging reactors. But critics say details are lacking – and point to a conflict of interest. Martin Kuebler reports.

With doubts about the safety of Belgium’s nuclear reactors rife among neighboring countries, and the threat of attacks on its nuclear sites still a valid concern, the news that one of the country’s disputed reactors had once again shut down unexpectedly on Thursday wasn’t encouraging.

Late in the afternoon, utilities operator Engie Electrabel announced that the 34-year-old Doel 3 reactor near the city of Antwerp, close to the border with the Netherlands, had automatically shut down following a standard test – “normal procedure if there is an anomaly,” according to a plant spokesperson. The Belga news agency said the outage was expected to last for 24 hours.

Earlier in the day, Engie also said the Doel 1 reactor – shut down since April 13 for maintenance work scheduled to last several days – would now remain offline until May 31 “for additional analyses” and “operational maintenance.” Doel 1 and 2, in operation since the mid-1970s, were set to be taken out of service in 2015 after 40 years, until parliament decided to extend their lifespans by another decade.

The shutdowns are just the latest for Belgium’s seven aging reactors, which in the last two years have gone offline around 10 times for various technical problems or minor emergencies like fires – four incidents this year alone.

On Wednesday, German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks called on the Belgian government to shut down Doel 3 and Tihange 2, located near the eastern city of Liège, for an indefinite period to guarantee safety “until further research can be undertaken.”

Her request came after a meeting between representatives of the German Environment Ministry, an independent German Reactor Safety Commission (RSK) and Belgium’s Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) in early April, in which Germany expressed its concern over tiny cracks in the pressure vessels of the two reactors discovered in 2012.

Hendricks pointed out that RSK had failed to confirm that the reactors were safe, and called for further tests to show that Belgium “takes the concerns of its German neighbors seriously.” The Tihange nuclear power station is located about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the German border, and the decision to restart Tihange 2 in December sparked great concern in the nearby city of Aachen.

Belgium’s Energy and Environment Minister Marie-Christine Marghem was unavailable for comment on Thursday………. http://www.dw.com/en/renewed-shutdowns-cast-doubt-on-belgian-nuclear-safety/a-19206484

April 22, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, safety