Belgium has restarted a nuclear power reactor at Tihange. Neighboring countries including Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are worried about the safety of the Belgium nuclear reactors. They are upset that Belgium does not seem to be sufficiently concerned about the threat of a nuclear accident at the Tihange power plant.
The number Two reactor at Tihange has been shut down since March of 2014 because tiny cracks were discovered in the pressure vessel that encloses the reactor. A study by the Green party group in the European parliament found that the steel used to construct the pressure vessel was of such low quality that the reactor would never have gotten a license to operate in the first place if that fact had been known. However, in November of 2015, the Belgian nuclear agency stated that there was "no obstacle" that would pose a problem for restarting the reactor. Reactor Two was restarted in December of 2015.
There is also a reactor at a Belgium nuclear plant called Doel that was recently taken offline because of tiny cracks in the pressure vessel. It was restarted after a brief period at the end of 2015 but had to be taken offline again for a few days after the discovery of a water leak. The oldest reactor in Belgium, Doel Number One was shut down in early 2015 after forty years of service. Recently, the Belgium government has decided to extend the operation life of Doel Number One and Doel Number Two by an additional ten years.
Luxembourg is only about a hundred miles away from the Tihange site. On Monday, the Luxembourg state secretary of infrastructure went to Brussels to discuss Belgium's plans to restart the reactors. An accident at Tihange could easily pose a threat to the citizens of Luxembourg. The Luxembourg Secretary pointed out that the source of the cracks in the pressure vessel had never been adequately explained and questioned the wisdom of restarting the reactor.
The German city of Aachen is only forty four miles from Tihange. One hundred thousand citizens from the Aachen region signed a petition requesting that the Belgium government not restart the reactor but this had no affect on Belgium's plans. The chief of the fire department of Aachen recently told Aachen's environmental committee that some of the emergency steps that were mandated by the state government simply would not work. As an example, he said that it would take up to forty eight hours to distribute iodine pills to the citizens instead of the mandated twenty four.
The Netherlands are worried about the Doel reactor that has been having problems. The Dutch minister for infrastructure and the Belgian Interior Minister are scheduled to visit the Doel plant this week. The Dutch are sending inspectors to observe while Belgian inspectors go over the two reactors scheduled for license extension.
The Belgian government has said that it wanted to improve communications with neighboring countries about its nuclear program. But, it also stated that it was not about to turn over the control of the nuclear program to its neighbors. Electrabel, the main utility in Belgium has a powerful influence over politicians and political decisions in Belgium. There is also a revolving door between Belgium's FANC nuclear regulatory agency and the Belgium nuclear industry with executives moving back and forth between the Agency and the nuclear utilities.
The countries of the European Union are split into the nuclear boosters and the nuclear critics. Some countries are planning on expanding their nuclear power reactor fleets and other countries either never built reactors or are shutting down the reactors they have. Lawsuits have been filed by nuclear critics against plans in some of the nuclear supporting countries. The nuclear debate promises to increase in intensity in the coming years in Europe.
Tihange nuclear power plant:
