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German regions file complaint against Belgian nuclear plants
Two regions in Germany that border Belgium have announced the intention to file a complaint with the EU and the UN against the decision by the Belgian government to keep its oldest nuclear power plants open until 2025.
The regions of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate are concerned about the prolongation of Doel 1 and 2 in East Flanders and Tihange 1 in Wallonia. All three plants were originally intended to operate until 2015, but their operations were extended by the current federal government for another decade.
The complaint will be filed with the European Commission and with the United Nations committee in charge of the Espoo Convention, which is charged with looking at cross-border environmental effects. Both regions claim that the operation of the plants was extended without consultation with border regions.
“The consequences of an accident at Tihange or Doel don’t stop at the border,” said North Rhine energy minister Eveline Lemke. Both regions, according to her Rhineland colleague Johannes Remmel, could suffer the effects of an accident, the chances of which increase as the power plants age.
This week it was revealed that both reactors Doel 1 and 2 have failed to meet the new criteria for resistance to earth tremors introduced after the incident at the Japanese plant at Fukushima.
Photo: Alexandre Jacquemin/Wikimedia
Comments
It would be nice to think that the Germans could influence the Belgians and force the plants to shut down, but the Belgian authorities are generally oblivious to complaints or problems when it comes to environmental hazards and/or pollution of any sort.
I guess prolonged operation of the plants had to do with the fact that there are no power alternatives at the moment or other affordable solutions.
Short sighted governments always try to push problems into the future instead of facing the "political cost" attached to difficult decisions.
I wonder if in Belgium we really need all those nuclear plants. It seems that in Germany they are going to stop most of them (if not done yet) and looks like they are not in a blackout.
But of course, maybe its not the Belgian government only... power companies are big guys; they can even control governments (just take a look where are some of the former ministries going to work... as energy companies advisors when it comes out that they know nothing about energy...