CONSULTING

legislation was finally amended for the first time, 695 granting a 10-year extension for the Tihange-1
reactor, while imposing an additional operating tax that removed about 70 percent of its profit in
excess of a guaranteed return of 9.3 percent on investment necessary for the lifetime extension. 696
The other shutdown dates were confirmed (see Table 16) and the law’s Article 9, which enabled
continued operation in case of security-of-supply concerns, was deleted.
Figure 49: Age Distribution of Belgian Nuclear Fleet
Sources: IAEA-PRIS, MSC, 2016
In summer 2012, the operator identified an unprecedented numbers of hydrogen-induced crack
indications in the pressure vessels of Doel-3 and Tihange-2, with respectively over 8,000 and
2,000 previously undetected defects. After several months of analysis, the Belgian safety
authority, the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC), asked the operator to carry out a
specific test program prior to any restart decision. However, in late January 2013, AIB-Vinçotte,
an international quality-control company based in Belgium working on behalf of the FANC, stated
that “some uncertainty about the representativity of the test program for the actual reactor
pressure vessel shells cannot be excluded”. 697
An independent assessment concluded that “the restart of the two power plants has to be
considered as hazardous”. 698 However, in May 2013, FANC licensed restart 699 in spite of serious
concerns by several scientists. Then, on 25 March 2014, Electrabel announced the immediate
shutdown of the Doel-3 and Tihange-2 reactors, declared as “anticipating planned outages”,
695 Moniteur belge, “18 Décembre 2013—Loi modifiant la loi du 31 janvier 2003 sur la sortie progressive
de l’énergie nucléaire à des fins de production industrielle d’électricité et modifiant la loi du 11 avril 2003
sur les provisions constituées pour le démantèlement des centrales nucléaires et pour la gestion des
matières fissiles irradiées dans ces centrales”, 24 December 2013.
696 Melchior Wathelet, “Avec la réserve stratégique, Melchior Wathelet finalise l’exécution de son plan”,
Energy Minister, 16 December 2013.
697 AIB-Vinçotte, “Synthesis Report Doel165”, 28 January 2013.
698 Ilse Tweer, “Flawed Reactor Pressure Vessels in Belgian Nuclear Plants Doel-3 and Tihange-2”, Materials
Scientist and Consultant, Report commissioned by the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament,
March 2013, see http://www.greensefa.eu/fileadmin/dam/Documents/Studies/Flawed%20Reactor%20Pressure%20Vessels.pdf,
accessed
18 June 2016.
699 FANC, “FANC experts give positive opinion on restart of Doel 3 & Tihange 2 reactor units”,
17 May 2013, see http://www.fanc.fgov.be/GED/00000000/3400/3430.pdf, accessed 18 June 2016.
Mycle Schneider, Antony Froggatt et al. 173 World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2016