Belgian utility Electrabel has "finalised more than 99pc of its action plan" for the post-Fukushima reinforcement of its nuclear power plants, Belgian nuclear safety authority Fanc said today.
The final item of the plan — the construction of a new operational centre at the Tihange site, designed to serve as a back-up to the existing centre — is "ongoing" and "can be completed in 2019", Fanc said.
The 3GW Tihange and Doel installations — Belgium's only nuclear power plants — are now "sufficiently protected against natural risks such as floods and earthquakes", Fanc said. The sites are also adequately protected against a complete loss of power supply, and their serious accident management strategy has been improved, the authority added.
The action plan was elaborated based on the results of resistance tests carried out at European nuclear installations after Japan's Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, to test their safety in extreme natural conditions. Belgium extended these tests to include scenarios such as plane crashes and gas explosions.
The Belgian government is planning to phase out the country's nuclear generation fleet by 2025. But French utility Engie, of which Electrabel is a subsidiary, said last month that the extension of operations at the 1GW Doel 4 and Tihange 3 reactors "is possible" and that it is "working with the Belgian authorities" to demonstrate the advantages of their prolongation.
French nuclear safety authority ASN last month granted state-controlled utility EdF two additional years to install emergency back-up generators at its nuclear plants, an action ordered in 2012 following the Fukushima incident.
Belgium's Tihange 2 reactor is currently off line for maintenance, and is expected to return to the grid on 31 May, while Tihange 1 is scheduled to be unavailable from 3 August 2019 until 15 February 2020. The extension of shutdowns at the plant last year for concrete repair work led to security of supply concerns for the winter 2018-19 period.
