The Tihange 2 nuclear reactor will be permanently shut down on Tuesday evening, after 40 years of service. Fortunately for the approximately 100 members of staff hired at the site, this will not lead to any job losses, operator Engie Electrabel assured on Friday.
In accordance with the law on the exit from nuclear power, the Tihange 2 nuclear power plant will be definitively disconnected from the grid on 31 January at 23:59, after 40 years of operation in “complete safety”, insists Antoine Assice, the director of various power plants at Tihange.
The reactor first came into operation on 1 February 1983 and has since produced 270 billion kilowatt hours of energy, three times the annual consumption of the whole of Belgium. This is the second reactor to be shut down, after Doel 3 last September. It is the first to go offline in Wallonia.
No jobs lost
In July, the Belgian government asked Engie to assess whether it would be possible to extend the operating life of Tihange 2 until the peak of the winter electricity system, but Engie Electrabel refused citing safety reasons. Politicians from French-speaking liberals MR (Mouvement Réformateur) had repeatedly called on the government to extend the phase-out of the nuclear site.
Employees at the current site will be sent to new roles at different nuclear power plants following the closure of Tihange 2, Assice said. Some will also remain at the site as part of its final shutdown operations, in order to ensure the site’s safety and to begin dismantling the reactor.
Other workers will be transferred to the Tihange 1 power plant, scheduled to be disconnected on 1 October 2025, and Tihange 3, which may have its lifespan extended by 10 years, as well as other sites. “No loss of employment,” the director ensures.
Assice said that he was proud of the work that had taken place at the site for the last 40 years. “They are moved, they have a machine in their guts, but at the same time, they have nuclear safety in their heads,” he said.
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Engie Electrabel will count on the Tihange 2 teams for their experience, the director added. The employees are already experienced at performing controlled shutdowns of the reactor, and will be “perfect” for the final days of the operation. Workers will also be an important part of training operations for the dismantling of the reactor. The French energy giant says that it will also offer optional training for workers who wish to change jobs.
The next nuclear reactor, Doel 1, is set to be dismantled in February 2025. After that, Tihange 1 will close its doors in October 2025, unless they are exceptionally extended. Its extension is not yet on the table in the discussion between its operator and the Belgian State.
