On Friday, the board of directors of the FANC and the Scientific Council for Ionizing Radiation – an independent body – approved the shutdown plan for Engie’s reactor. This marks September 23 as the last day Doel 3 produces electricity. Well-informed sources confirm that “the preparatory works for decommissioning the reactor have also been approved”.
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It is not yet a question of the final dismantling – which can only be done after the FANC has issued the authorization – but of the intermediate steps towards it. According to sources, that phase will begin “in the next few months”.
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The preparatory work makes the shutdown of the reactor irreversible, it is said. “A reboot is believed to be extremely complicated, if not impossible, after chemical decontamination of the circuit,” a source close to the file said.
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This eliminates the possibility of keeping the nuclear power plant on standby for a possible restart. An option that Germany has, because the preparatory work for the decommissioning of nuclear power plants there will only begin later.
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The German scenario was favored by Open Vld President Egbert Lachaert, who later also received the support of CD&V leader Sammy Mahdi and Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval (MR).
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