Search form

menu menu
  • Daily & Weekly newsletters
  • Buy & download The Bulletin
  • Comment on our articles

Regulator to advise reopening nuclear reactors

11:25 17/05/2013

Belgium’s nuclear safety regulator will recommend reopening two GDF Suez nuclear reactors closed last year over safety concerns, writes Reuters’ Ben Deighton, citing a report in Le Soir. A recommendation from the regulator, FANC, will today be presented to government ministers, who must give final clearance for the sites to reopen. It said the reactors would be allowed to restart on condition that the core tanks were closely monitored. Belgium halted the 1,006-megawatt Doel 3 reactor last August after potential cracks were discovered on the core tank during ultrasound checks. A month later, it found similar flaws on the 1,008-megawatt Tihange 2 after it tested the tank during a routine stoppage, leaving Belgium without a third of its nuclear power generation capacity. A FANC spokesman did not want to comment on the report.

Written by The Bulletin