The Court of First Instance of Brussels (Belgium) has confirmed the decision of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) of 2015 to restart the Thihange 2 nuclear unit. During an inspection in 2012, cracks were discovered in the walls of the reactor triggering the shut down of the 1,008 MW unit and restarted in November 2015 after the authorisation received from the FANC. Several municipalities in Belgium, as well as federal states in Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg asked for the court to overturn the decision of the FANC to restart the reactor. The reactor was commissioned in 1982, and is scheduled to close in 2023. The Tihange plant, operated by Engie’s Belgian affiliate Electrabel, has a total capacity of 3,008 MW.
In April 2020, the Belgian government committed to phasing out nuclear power plants by 2025. The country's seven nuclear reactors accounted for 47% of power generation in 2019.
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