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The Belgian nuclear reactor Doel 3
Photo: YVES HERMAN / REUTERS
Belgium has permanently shut down a controversial nuclear reactor near Antwerp.
The Doel 3 kiln has not been supplying electricity since the evening, a spokeswoman for the operator Engie told the AFP news agency.
For years, German opponents of nuclear power and politicians right up to the federal government had fought for the exit.
Doel 3 was commissioned around 40 years ago.
It is the first of the seven Belgian reactors to be shut down.
In the coming hours and days, the temperature of the reactor will now be reduced, the spokeswoman said.
In 2012, experts had already found thousands of hairline cracks in the reactor pressure vessels in block Doel 3 near Antwerp and in another reactor near Liège.
Nevertheless, Belgium allowed the two reactors to continue running without consulting the neighboring countries and examining the environmental compatibility - illegally, as the European Court of Justice ruled, among others.
The second breakdown reactor, Tihange 2, is only around 50 kilometers as the crow flies from the German border near Aachen and is scheduled to be shut down by February 1st.
"If the two reactors go offline, that will make NRW safer," said State Environment Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens) in Düsseldorf.
The Green politician had been campaigning for the shutdown of the so-called “rift reactors” for years.
Originally, the Belgian government had planned to shut down all nuclear power plants by 2025.
Against the background of the Ukraine war and the increased energy prices, the government now wants to keep the Tihange 3 and Doel 4 reactors running until at least the end of 2035 in order to ensure energy security - but this has not yet been formally decided.
Last year, around half of Belgium's electricity production came from nuclear power.
czl/AFP
