France's GDF Suez has paid the Belgian government a 2010 nuclear tax payment of Eur212 million ($276 million), a company spokeswoman said Thursday.
Through its subsidiary Electrabel, GDF Suez operates almost all of Belgium's 5.9 GW of nuclear capacity.
BRUSSELS, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Belgium may extend the lifetimes of its three oldest nuclear power stations by ten years to 2025 to guard against energy shortages, newspaper De Standaard reported on Friday.
The plants, two in Doel near the northern city of Antwerp and one in Tihange in southeastern Belgium, are due to close in 2015.
But Energy Minister Paul Magnette will submit a report to the government on Friday that concludes Belgium will face energy supply problems if the plants close on schedule, De Standaard said.
Pressrelease: Le 19 avril dernier, lors de l’essai d’un filtre installé sur les équipements de ventilation d’une partie des locaux nucléaires de la centrale de Tihange 2, une manoeuvre erronée a occasionné un rejet gazeux à l’atmosphère. En effet, un échantillon de test d’iode 131 a été injecté au-delà du filtre qu’il devait vérifier. L’iode s’est ainsi retrouvé à l’atmosphère via la gaine de ventilation. La quantité prédéterminée contenue dans l’échantillon correspond à moins de 1% de la limite légale autorisée sur un trimestre.
Il est dangereux de prolonger la vie des réacteurs nucléaires, les alternatives existent!
Une trentaine de militants de Greenpeace ont investi le site de la centrale nucléaire de Tihange.
 INES 2 |
Inadequate protection relays and related setpoints |
During periodic testing of the diesel generators automatic load sequence, it was discovered that the 380V safety related equipments were not energized as expected. The reason for that failure is that a protection relay had an unexpected high voltage trip value that was not appropriately adjusted. The setpoint was too low so that, when the diesel generator was supplying the 380 V board, the protection tripped on high voltage de-energizing power supply to safety related equipments.
INES 2 |
Safety injection during hot shutdown at Tihange 2 unit |
On 22nd November 2002, a safety injection was automatically initiated during hot shutdown conditions by a low pressure in the primary system. A wrongly scheduled test resulted in the opening of one relief valve on the pressurizer. The pressure in the primary system decreased rapidly from 155 bars to about 85 bars. The safety injection signal was actuated as by design at about 120 bars. All safety trains started accordingly injecting water in the primary system.
INES 0 |
Fan belt catching fire in the auxiliary building without consequences |
At about 2 am, the fan belt of a pulsing fan in the auxiliary building (non safety related engine) catches fire after a malfunction alarm on the fan. This leads to a significant smoke production and to a fire alarm.
The fire is extinguished by the fire brigade.
The fire had no consequence whatsoever for the plant safety, in spite of a lot of public interest and misleading information on the severity of the event.
INES 0 |
FIRE IN A NON-SAFETY RELATED CABINET IN THE CONTROLLED AREA |
A fire occurred in a non safety related cabinet, feeding electrically the normal ventilation of the Nuclear Auxiliary Building (controlled area). The fire was discovered by an auxiliary operator restoring the ventilation configuration after completion of a test.
The fire was extinguished by the utility rescue squad: the fire brigade, called according to procedures, had no action to take.
The event had no impact on safety, and was rated below scale.
The utility sent an information release in NUCNET.
