Tihange Nuclear Power Station

Tihange Nuclear Power Station
Country	Belgium
Location	Huy
Coordinates	50°31′58″N 5°16′32″E
Status	Operational
Construction began	1970
Commission date	1 October 1975
Owner	Electrabel
Electrabel
Nuclear power station
Reactor type	pressurized water reactors
Reactor supplier	ACLF, FRAMACEC,ACECOWEN
Power generation
Units operational	1 x 962 MW 1 x 1008 MW 1 x 1015 MW
Nameplate capacity	2,985 MW
Annual net output	23 TWh
External links
Website	nuclear.engie-electrabel.be/fr/powerplant/la-centrale-nucleaire-de-tihange
Commons	Related media on Commons

The plant seen from fr station

Tihange nuclear power plant seen from the fortress of Huy

The Tihange Nuclear Power Station is one of the two large-scale nuclear power plants in Belgium, the other being Doel Nuclear Power Station. It is located on the right bank of the Meuse River in the Belgian district of Tihange, part of Huy municipality in the Walloon province of Liège. The primary stakeholder in the plant is the Belgian energy company Electrabel.

Reactors

The plant has three pressurized water reactors, with a total capacity of 2985 MW_e and makes up 52% of the total Belgian nuclear generating capacity. Its units are rated as follows:

• Tihange 1: 962 MW_e (1975)
• Tihange 2: 1008 MW_e (1983)
• Tihange 3: 1015 MW_e (1985)

The reactors were supplied by different consortia, respectively ACLF (ACECOWEN-Creusot-Loire-Framatome), FRAMACECO (Framatome-ACEC-Cockerill), ACECOWEN (ACEC-Cockerill-Westinghouse).

The units were designed for an operational lifetime of 30 years. In 2003, a Belgian law concerning the closure of the Belgian nuclear reactors permitted an operational lifetime of 40 years for the three reactors in Tihange. On July 4, 2012, however, the Belgian government decided that Tihange 1 could be operated until 2025.

No filters present in the high pressure valves of the reactor vessels

In answer at questions of die Grünen in the Bundestag, the German parliament, the German government replied that in all outdated Belgian nuclear power plants no filtered pressure relief valves were installed. In German nuclear reactors these were already built in after the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl in 1986, other countries followed this example around or after 2011, after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. This kind of filters should prevent radioactive air to leave the pressure vessel unfiltered. According to the German Government the nuclear reactors of the Doel Nuclear Power Station are missing these emergency pressure filters also. This news caused quite some unrest in the national and local press around these nuclear reactors.

Incidents

On November 22, 2002, an incident occurred in Block 2 (INES 2). The reactor was shut down at this time and no longer critical. However it remained necessary for decay heat to be removed from the reactor by circulating coolant. The November 22 incident involved accidental opening of a pressure relief valve. This caused the high pressure primary coolant circuit to rapidly depressurize, therefore reducing the ability of the circuit to remove heat from the reactor (the high pressure prevents the coolant - water - from boiling), leading to possible reactor overheating and eventual meltdown. The pressure relief valve was closed again after three minutes.

On September 3, 2008 a malfunctioning fan was found in a reactor. This was classified as INES-1. Also, in 2005 and 2002 there were two INES-2 incidents. And in 2001 and 1993 there were fires on the site of the nuclear power plant. Those were classified as level 0.

Since 2006 there has been a leak of 0.5-2 liters per day of mildly radioactive water from a deactivation-bath. After this was notified to the nl Electrabel tried to find the cause of the leak. But on 11 July 2012 it became apparent that the leakage still exists. According to FANC this issue is "under control" and no radioactivity leaks outside the buildings.

September 1, 2012, it became known that the Tihange 2 reactor shows signs of erosion weakening of the outer reinforced concrete mantle up to a depth of 0.3 m. Electrabel and the Belgian nuclear regulator FANC deny any immediate security risk since the reactor was already shut down for maintenance.

February 23, 2015, Dutch newspaper reports on thousands of cracks well up to 6 cm according to Federaal Agentschap voor Nucleaire Controle (FANC). Actual discussion still assumes the reactor to be turned on in July again. This did not happen, and in September 2015 the unit is still offline pending further investigation.

Security

In December 2015, police found that a camera had been set up outside the house of a SCK•CEN nuclear researcher to track their movements. Seven people had their access to the Tihange and Doel facilities revoked after the 2016 Brussels police raids in March 2016, and during the 2016 Brussels bombings, the Tihange and Doel Nuclear Power Station facilities evacuated non-essential personnel.

On 25 March 2016, a G4S security guard for the National Institute of Radio-elements (IRE) in Fleurus died in a shooting when he walked with his dog in Charleroi. His security cards were stolen. The cards, which give access to nuclear sites in Belgium, were deactivated shortly after the killing was discovered. Belgium denied that the guard's death was terror related.

Labour unions actions

On April 12 2016 members of labour unions blocked the access to the nuclear power station. There were longstanding complaints about the business operations. Only staff in the direct control of the reactors and the soldiers for the surveillance were admitted. Members of management, administration, maintenance and external staff was stopped. To the surprise of the Executive Board, which announced negotiations later that day.

See also

• Nuclear Plant Doel
• Nuclear power in Belgium

External links

• Belgian, Dutch, German alliance against the NPP Tihange stop-tihange.org
• Site Electrabel regarding the nuclear plants in Doel and Tihange Electrabel