The French energy company Engie, which also operates in Belgium, has obtained a permit to demolish the cooling tower of the Tihange 1 nuclear power plant.
It wants to start dismantling it in September. This undermines the plans of Energy Minister Mathieu Bihet (MR), who wants to restart the plant and negotiate an additional 10-year extension of its lifespan.
Hopeless battle?
“We plan to start dismantling the cooling towers at Tihange 1 and Tihange 2 in September,” spokesperson Hellen Smeets told business newspaper De Tijd. “We will start with the cooling tower at Tihange 1 and aim to complete the work by the end of 2027 or early 2028.”
Engie’s plans to dismantle the oldest Walloon nuclear power plant, situated along the Meuse River in Huy, are therefore opposed to Bihet’s request to refrain from undertaking “irreversible dismantling actions.”
Two of the seven nuclear power plants are still open
To put this into context: Tihange 2, in operation since 1982, was permanently shut down in January 2023 due to hydrogen flakes in the reactor vessel.
Like Doel 1, 2, and 3, it will not be restarted. Currently, only Doel 4 and Tihange 3 remain operational among Belgium’s nuclear power plants, which are expected to remain operational until approximately 2035 following a 10-year lifetime extension. However, the De Wever government hopes to keep them open even longer.
Minister Bihet also hopes to restart Tihange 1. This nuclear power plant, with a capacity of approximately 1,000 MW, is almost 50 years old. Due to its age and outdated design, the reactor has been taken out of service after several lifetime extensions, and preparations are underway for its decommissioning.
No legal framework
On December 30, operator Engie Electrabel obtained a regional permit to demolish the cooling towers at Tihange 1 and 2. The French energy company is putting its money where its mouth is, having already made clear that it is no longer interested in extending the plant’s lifespan.
“If the government still wants to keep nuclear power plants open, it will not be with Engie,” the message read. In addition, the safety authority FANC has already confirmed that Tihange 1 does not meet the new safety standards. Plus: the high-voltage grid around Liège will no longer be equipped for it before 2031-2032.
“The investments required to bring the nuclear power plant up to standard would be so substantial that it would be financially and technically difficult to extend its life,” Smeets told De Tijd. “There is no legal framework for this. No studies have been conducted. So, we will continue with the plan as it was envisaged.”
Although the city of Huy could still throw a spanner in the works, according to the newspaper La Dernière Heure, the town, with MR in the majority, is considering appealing against the destruction of the two 158.5-meter-high towers on the Tihange site.
The City of Huy had already issued a negative opinion to the delegated and technical officials on Engie’s request to demolish the cooling towers at its Tihange nuclear site. The main argument was that these demolitions would be irreversible for the energy, industrial, and economic future of the power plant, the City of Huy, and the entire Meuse basin.
Power supply at risk?
With Doel 1 and Tihange 3, Belgium has approximately 2 GW of nuclear energy, well below the Belgian government’s target of approximately 4 GW.
However, in its Adequacy & Flexibility Studies, Elia states that Belgium’s electricity supply is secure with 2 GW of nuclear energy, provided that the remaining capacity can be supplemented with CRM gas-fired power stations, imports, renewable energy, battery parks, and possibly new nuclear technology (SMRs).
At the same time, it also warns in recent long-term studies that Belgium risks a shortage of more than 6GW from 2035 onwards if no new investments are made, precisely because of an explosive increase in electricity demand due to the electrification of industry, transport (EVs), and, above all, the growth of data centers.
A new study by engineering firm Tractebel also shows that, even in the most optimistic scenario, the construction of new large nuclear power plants in Belgium will not be completed until the end of 2039 at the earliest.
