Nuclear power capacity halved by end of March

Belgium’s capacity to generate nuclear power will be halved by the end of this month as the Tihange-1 reactor is shut down, writes Bloomberg’s Patrick Henry, quoting a report from today’s L’Echo. Tihange-1 will be closed from March 30 to May 21 for maintenance, and the shutdown won’t affect customers, the economics daily reports, citing a spokesperson for Electrabel, the Belgian subsidiary of GDF Suez. The Tihange-2 and Doel-3 reactors were shut down previously, meaning generation capacity will be halved for a month or two.