Restarts of the Doel Unit 1 and 2 pressurized water reactors on track for December, although repairs and inspections on cooling water circuit pipes continues, according to the Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (Fanc).
Fanc announced that it had given plant operator Engie Electrabel the green light on a replacement for a section of the Unit 1 pipe what was the site of a leak in April 2018. The cause of that leak, however, has not yet been discovered, according to Nuclear Engineering International.
After Unit 1 was shut down with scheduled repairs brought forward, Unit 2 was also closed down for a planned maintenance outage. With that underway, Engie elected to also inspect Unit 2 pipes for similar problems.
As a result, only one of Belgium’s nuclear reactors is currently online, the others closed down for a variety of reasons.
Tihange Unit 1 is down for scheduled maintenance and refueling and is expected to restart soon. Tihange Units 2 and 3 and Doel Unit 4 have been shut down so inspections and repairs can be made on deteriorating concrete issues.
That leaves only Doel Unit 3, which is currently online.