The Belgian government agreed on closing all nuclear power plants by 2025 (Belgium). It will, however, reserve the right to extend operations on two reactors depending on the level of security of supply. In 2003, the Parliament passed a law to phaseout nuclear power between 2022 and 2025 but the deadline was not fully adopted by the government.
Earlier this month, Engie officially decided to initiate the gradual decommissioning of its two Belgian nuclear power plants in Doel (2.9 GW), near Antwerp, and Tihange (3 GW), near Liège. Engie's Belgian subsidiary Electrabel operates the seven PWR nuclear reactors in the country - Doel 1-2-3-4 and Tihange 1-2-3 reactors - which accounted for 44% of power generation in 2020. Doel-1 and Doel-2 (445 MW each) and 962 MW Tihange-1 have secured 10-year lifetime extensions, while 1,008 MW Tihange-2 will reach its 40-year lifetime limit in 2022, followed by 1,006 MW Doel-3 in 2023 and Doel-4 and Tihange-3 (1,038 MW each) in 2025. The group has decided not to seek to extend the operation of the Doel-4 and Tihange-3 reactors, which will stop operations in 2025.
Belgium has an electricity capacity of 26.3 GW (end-2020), including 9.4 GW of thermal (of which 5.8 GW of gas), 5.9 GW of nuclear, 5.5 GW of solar PV, 4 GW of wind, and 1.4 GW of hydropower. More than 3.5 GW of thermal capacity has been shut down since 2011, mainly from gas (1.5 GW) due to overcapacity.
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