PTo avoid a disaster scenario, we must keep our entire nuclear fleet in working order.” This is the mantra that Marie-Christine Marghem has tirelessly repeated for months. Federal Minister of Energy from 2014 to 2020, the Liberal MP fears that the Belgian energy production mix which combines renewables, gas-fired power plants and nuclear reactors will not be sufficient to avoid electricity rationing.
“You will see in September-October. People will return from vacation, the children will have to be sent to school and they will not be able to pay their bills. Our gas consumption will be rationed, both for businesses and for citizens. Since the Minister wants to make electricity with gas, we will also be rationed in electricity. The citizen’s electricity bill will increase. Everything will increase. Everything will follow one another and go up at an unmanageable speed.”
A risk which stems from the interdependence intrinsic to the mode of operation of the European energy market but which might be curbed by keeping a larger share of nuclear power in Belgian production, according to the Tournaisian.
“I am for a renewable-nuclear mix with a manageable portion of renewable. Until you have a large-scale storage process that is economically sustainable, you cannot imagine more than 35% renewable in your energy mix. In Germany, they have 35% renewables and they don’t make it”.
Due to the close presence of other wind farms, the new Belgian offshore wind farm will experience lower profitability effects. “The Dunkirk park and the Borssele park will take us from the wind.” However, when there is neither wind nor sun, it is necessary to compensate for the demand for electricity with gas. “The more renewables you have, the more gas you need.” According to the MEP, the only scenario which makes it possible to avoid a break in supply and a dependence on foreign gas is the extension of five Belgian reactors. “In Belgium, we have a nuclear fleet in working order which gives more than 50% of our electricity and we are going to close it. This is the reason why I have tabled a bill aimed at extending our nuclear reactors. “
The current energy minister, Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen), only wants to keep two nuclear reactors, Doel 4 and Tihange 3, in working order. “Our other reactors are too old or cracked”she reminded RTBF once more on Thursday.
“The federal nuclear control agency is the only one who can say independently whether an infrastructure or a reactor is capable of remaining in operation with safety upgrades to the most demanding standards on an international level. And it says that ‘we can do it”replies Marie-Christine Marghem. “Just need to do some upgrade work.”
What would block would therefore not be the existence (or not) of cracks but the law of 2003 which imposed a legal framework for the extinction of Belgian nuclear power and “which forces us to carry out impact studies each time we want to pass the milestone of 2025”. Minister Van der Straeten’s warnings are “du pipeau ” for Marghem who denounces a vision “ ideological”. “ If these reactors are dangerous, they must be shut down immediately. But this is not the case. It takesout the voice of the experts.”
