Two of Belgium’s reactors will be kept active until at least 2036, the Belgian government. Here’s why nuclear power is a good choice for the energy mix.
As the energy crisis placates with the warm temperatures of early 2023, another European country goes back on their nuclear phase-out plans. Belgium, a small nation between Germany, France and the Netherlands, was supposed to close down all their nuclear power plants by 2025.
On Tuesday, however, it was confirmed by the Belgian prime minister that the phase-out will be delayed by 10 years. The two most recent nuclear reactors, which provide 2GW of energy to the country, will stay attached to the grid until at least 2036.
Belgium started their nuclear phase-out in 2003, turning off one entire power plant and one reactor by 2022. In 2016, nuclear power still amounted for half of energy’s production in the country.
In total, Belgium was able to operate seven reactors before the phase-out. From 2026, only two will remain active.
The reason is the same why Germany implemented a similar delay: energy security. “Belgium is well secured for the coming winters,” said Belgian prime minister Alexander de Croo. “Today we are an energy exporter, and this will also be the case for the coming winters. The decision-making centers were no longer in Belgium [and with today’s agreement,] our country regains control over a very important element of its energy supply.”
The war in Ukraine and the energy war
At the start of this delay is, of course, the war in Ukraine. When Russia invaded the country in February 2022, Europe immediately jumped in support of Ukraine, and Belgium was no exception.
This meant, however, that Russia would cut off their energy supplied to Europe, including gas and oil. Despite the initial fear, Europe stood still and kept supporting Ukraine, which led to a complete stop of Russian oil and (possibly) gas exports.
The energy crisis that the war caused made countries like Germany and Belgium rethink their strategies completely. For the last two decades, both of them were some of the biggest advocates for green energies, at the same time disabling their nuclear plants.
Irrational fears of accidents like Chernobyl and waste disposal made governments wary of nuclear energy.
In reality, nuclear is the greenest energy currently available (on par with wind power) as well as one of the safest. Even including the two notorious accidents, the death toll for nuclear pales in comparison to that of fossil fuels. Even hydroelectric power is statistically more lethal than nuclear power, when all the major dam accidents are taken into account.
As for nuclear waste, because of its objective danger it is extremely well monitored and preserved. Fossil fuel waste, on the other hand, not only is much bigger in quantity but is also far more lethal.
Perhaps it took a major energy crisis like that caused by the Ukraine war to have the European governments realize the advantages of nuclear power.
