In Belgium, the country’s most controversial nuclear reactor will be finally shut down on Tuesday (from 6:30 p.m.). After 40 years, block two of the Tihange nuclear power plant near Liège is to be shut down completely at 11:59 p.m., according to the operating company Engie.
For years, German politicians and opponents of nuclear power have campaigned for the reactor to be phased out, and the exit is a success for them too. Tihange 2 is around 50 kilometers from the German border. Experts had already found thousands of small cracks in the reactor pressure vessel in 2012.
After the shutdown, Belgium still has five nuclear reactors in operation. Three of them are scheduled to go offline in 2025. For the two youngest reactors, on the other hand, an extension of the service life to 2035 is planned. The government justifies this with the Ukraine war and the energy crisis. The affected blocks Doel 4 and Tihange 3 date from 1985.
The end for the remaining three reactors now looks like this: Doel 1 is scheduled to go offline on February 15, 2025, Tihange 1 on October 1, 2025 and Doel 2 on December 1, 2025.
