Belgium's Parliament on Thursday approved a bill to postpone the termination of nuclear energy generation from 2015 to 2025.
More specifically, the text endorses the decision to extend the operation of the Doel 1 and Doel 2 nuclear reactors, a decision taken in 2014, but cancelled by the Constitutional Court because certain requirements were not met, such as the preparation of an environmental impact study.
The Constitutional Court had given the Federal Government until 31 December 2022 to come up with a remedial act.
The various requirements have since been fulfilled and the remedial act extending Doel 1 and 2 by 10 years received the thumbs up from the Cabinet of Ministers on 10 June.
The text was approved on Thursday by the majority in parliament, with the exception of Mouvement Reformateur (MR) legislator Marie-Christine Marghem, who abstained, as did the parliamentarians from the Nieuw-Vlaams Alliantie (N-VA), Les Engagés and Vlaams Belang. The Belgian Workers' Party, PTB, voted against.
The Federal Government decided last year to keep Doel 4 and Tihange 3 open until 2036. That decision is expected to be put to a vote in parliament next year.
