Unit 1 at Belgium’s Tihange NPP has been permanently disconnected from the network. Belgium has seven nuclear power reactors – three at Tihange near Liege and four at Doel near Antwerp. All seven are pressurised water reactors operated by Electrabel, part of Engie. Apart from Doel 1&2, which are 430 MWe plants, the others have a capacity of approximately 1000 MWe.
In May, Belgium’s Chamber of Representatives voted to repeal a 2003 law setting out plans to phase out nuclear power. The 2003 law set a date for the closure of Belgium’s seven nuclear plants and prohibited the construction of new nuclear capacity. Over the past two decades, the law has been amended several times to allow a number of plants to remain open longer.
Under the phase-out law, Doel 1 was to be taken out of service in 2015. However, the law was amended in 2013 and 2015 allowing it to operate for an additional 10 years. Doel 3 was closed in 2022 and Tihange 2 in 2023. Doel 2 is set to shut at the end of November.
The only two units then remaining in operation will be Doel 4 and Tihange 3, whose operating life has been extended until 2035. They were scheduled to close in November 2025 but the conflict in Ukraine and subsequent sanctions on Russian oil and gas resulted both being allowed to operate for 10 more years. The bill to repeal the nuclear exit law now allows for the possibility of further extension.
Tihange 1 was retired in February but government discussion on its possible extension continued, although some preliminary dismantling activities were started. With its final closure, the decommissioning phase will now begin. The reactor will be defuelled and the fuel cooled before being sent to a temporary storage site, and the primary circuit will undergo chemical cleaning. These operations will extend over several years.
Construction of Tihange 1, located on the banks of the Meuse, near Huy (province of Liège), began in 1969 and the first electricity production took place in October 1975. The 962 MWe reactor, owned equally by Engie and EDF Belgium, should have closed in 2015. However, its operation were extended by 10 years to ensure security of supply.
The closure will not have an immediate direct impact on the hundred workers in Tihange 1. Management announced that jobs would be guaranteed until 2035 to support dismantling of the site. “Engie has chosen immediate dismantling quite simply because it meets the expectations of the federal nuclear control agency on the one hand and on the other hand, we want to take advantage of the great experience of our teams to succeed in this dismantling”, said Tihange Director Antoine Assice.
Although the possible extension of Tihange 1 had been discussed, Assice said it would not be possible “For us, the extension is not possible: we have not prepared an extension which has to be done at least five years in advance. The second point is that an extension would block all of the dismantling activities to which we have committed with the government. The third point is that it would represent extremely significant investments.”
In 2024, Belgian nuclear power represented 42.2% of Belgian electricity. Renewables represented 29.8% of electricity production including wind power (17.9%) and solar energy (11.9%).
