A reactor at the Tihange nuclear power station in the town of Huy went into shut down on Wednesday morning after a technical problem automatically triggered the process, the plant's operator Engie Electrabel confirms.
Tihange 1 went into shut down because of a problem with a pump in the "non-nuclear" part of the reactor, the operator explained in a Tweet.
The shutdown was carried out safely and procedures were followed throughout, with investigations into the fault still taking place at around 12:50 PM.
L'arrêt de la centrale s’est déroulé en toute sûreté conformément aux procédures. L'analyse de l’incident est en cours. 2/
— ENGIE Electrabel (@ENGIEelectrabel) December 4, 2019
The reactor is currently scheduled to stay in shut down mode until Thursday evening, although this could change depending on the results of the analysis of the fault that triggered the shutdown, Le Soir explains.
Tihange, which represents about 15% of total electricity production capacity in Belgium, is one of two nuclear energy production sites in the country- the other is located in Doel.
Evie McCullough
The Brussels Times
