Experts from the Federal Environment Ministry (BMUB) delivered a list of fifteen unresolved questions about the safety of the nuclear power plants Tihange 2 and Doel 3 to the Belgian nuclear regulator FANC. The questions relate to the inspection and assessment procedure carried out in the plants as well as to the safety certificates of the plants’ reactor pressure vessels (RPVs). According to the BMUB’s experts, the hydrogen flakes found in the pressure vessels of the two nuclear power plants constitute a serious deviation from required manufacturing quality. The German experts question to what extent this is compatible with basic safety requirements for nuclear power plants.
The list of questions was presented to the Belgians at an international working group meeting hosted by FANC. The Belgian regulator invited representatives of European nuclear regulatory authorities to the meeting in order to inform them about the background of the decision to reactivate Tihange 2 and Doel 3. The BMUB welcomes the fact that the Belgian regulator is open to engaging in international discussions about the safety of these nuclear power plants. However, from the ministry’s point of view, there are still unresolved questions in connection with the restart of these reactors.
At the working group meeting in Brussels, the BMUB’s representatives stressed the growing concern of the German public about whether Tihange and Doel can be operated safely. In particular, Germans living in the border region are uncertain about the safety of the Belgian nuclear power plants. The Belgian authorities have been called on to take these worries and concerns very seriously.
Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks explained: “We will carefully evaluate the outcomes of this working group meeting. I appreciate the fact that the Belgian nuclear safety regulator is prepared to conduct additional bilateral discussions with experts from the federal government and Länder levels. Moreover, I think it is also important for the German government to discuss nuclear power safety and energy supply issues with Belgian policy-makers. I will take the initiative to get this started.”
The safety assessment procedure used by the Belgian authorities in restarting the nuclear power plants Tihange 2 and Doel 3 appears to be coherent and transparent. Nonetheless, the safety certificates of the reactor pressure vessels cannot be evaluated in detail because certain necessary information is not publicly accessible. For this reason, the Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (Reactor Safety Association, GRS) and the Reactor Safety Commission (RSK) prepared a list of questions to present to the Belgian authorities. The BMUB asked the GRS and the RSK to evaluate the documents published by the Belgian nuclear safety regulator regarding the reactivation of Tihange 2 and Doel 3.