Belgian decision on nuclear lifetime extensions imminent: report

Belgium's coalition government is to decide this week whether to extend the lives of the 1-GW Doel 4 and Tihange 3 nuclear reactors by up to 10 years to end-2035, according to public service broadcaster RTBF.

Belgium plans to phase out its 6-GW, seven-reactor nuclear fleet by 2025 but if a March 18 report by network manager Elia shows security of supply could be threatened by this, the government still has the "Plan B" option to extend the lifetimes of 1-GW reactors at Doel 4 and Tihange 3.

"By the end of the week, the seven parties of the Vivaldi coalition have set themselves the challenge of finally reaching an agreement on the energy transition in Belgium," RTBF said in a March 16 report.

Federal energy minister Tinne Van der Straeten is reported to have tabled a note relating to a bill providing for the extension of Doel 4 and Tihange 3 "until Dec. 31, 2035 at the latest".

A spokesperson for the Council of Ministers was not immediately available to confirm the report.

The end-of-week meeting would also agree a temporary reduction of VAT on gas and electricity bills and a plan to boost renewables and reduce fossil fuel consumption, RTBF said.

More than two?

The war in Ukraine has reignited a long-running debate in Belgium on the wisdom of closing a domestic source of power responsible for over 50% of the country's needs.

Indeed nuclear association Foratom said extensions for more than two Belgium reactors had been tabled.

"For Germany it might be a little bit late to keep the last three reactors in operation even if efforts are being made to see what could be possible, but in Belgium discussions have encompassed possible extensions for more than two," Andrei Goicea, policy director at Foratom, told S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Goicea noted that availability of nuclear fuel in Europe was dependable and the industry was local. "Most nuclear components are made in Europe, unlike other sectors [solar and wind] which rely on materials from outside Europe," he said.

He added that the credibility of the European Commission's REPowerEU strategy, announced in response to the Ukraine crisis, was undermined by its failure to recognize nuclear's role in the bloc's energy resilience.

"We still have the challenge of how to replace fossil fuels. Some countries are replacing nuclear with fossil fuels [Germany and coal], while Belgium has a plan to move to gas-fired generation," Goicea said.

Security of supply

On Jan. 17 Belgium's nuclear safety agency FANC said the safe operation of Doel 4 and Tihange 3 after 2025 was possible if the government decided security of supply was threatened by their closure.

Nuclear generation increased its share in Belgium's electricity mix by over 10 percentage points year on year to 52.4% in 2021, according to data from transmission system operator Elia.

Belgium's nuclear capacity is set to decline by 2 GW in 2022/2023, with the Doel 3 reactor being decommissioned on Oct. 1, 2022, and Tihange 2 being decommissioned in February 2023.

In late October 2021, two 875-MW gas plants being developed by Engie at Vilvoorde and Awirs were awarded 15-year support contracts in the country's first capacity remuneration mechanism auction.

In all, 40 offers for a total 4.45 GW of existing and new capacity were awarded contracts at a weighted average price of Eur31,671.57/MW/year ($36,644.16/MW/year) in the pay-as-bid auction.