Belgian parliament scraps nuclear phaseout plan – DW – 05/15/2025
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Belgium has dropped nuclear phaseout plans adopted over two decades ago. Previously, it had delayed the phaseout for 10 years over the energy uncertainty triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Belgium has dropped nuclear phaseout plans adopted over two decades ago. Previously, it had delayed the phaseout for 10 years over the energy uncertainty triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Belgium’s parliament on Thursday voted to drop the country’s planned nuclear phaseout.

In 2003, Belgium passed a law for the gradual phaseout of nuclear energy. The law stipulated that nuclear power plants were to be closed by 2025 at the latest, while prohibiting the construction of new reactors.

In 2022, Belgium delayed the phaseout by 10 years, with plans to run one reactor in each of its two plants as a backup due to energy uncertainty triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

  • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
    3·
    14 hours ago

    The largest cost of nuclear power is safety. Both reactor & waste.

    But, like you said above, it’s actually one of the safest sources, even if you include disasters, which are very unlikely now that the technology is so much more mature. Unlike other power sources, their waste is easily accounted for and stored too, and in small quantities. Some of it can even be useful.

    Unfortunately, due to how global energy markets work, the profit has become unreliable (ironically in part due to solar/wind) and large nuclear plants are generally considered an economic loss.

    This is largely due to regulations specifically designed to increase their costs above dirty energy sources. Those with money will always create barriers for competition, and that’s what dirty energy companies have done. There’s so many requirements for nuclear plants that other energy sources aren’t held back by. Coal can just spew radioactive waste into the air for free, and nuclear has to pay for the safe storage of their waste. Why? Waste for all energy should be paid for by those generating it so they have an incentive to reduce it and it makes all sources equal.