(Finance) – The European Commission has approved, pursuant to EU rules on state aid, a Belgian support measure revised for theLife extension of two nuclear reactors, Doel 4 and Tihange 3.
Pursuant to the Belgian law on nuclear divestment of 2003, all seven nuclear reactors in Belgium they had to be closed by 2025. In March 2022, in the light of the worries about the security of the supply in the context of the energy crisis and the Russian aggression war against Ukraine, the Belgian Federal Government decided to keep the two most recent Belgian nuclear power plants open open, Doel 4 and Tihange 3, for another 10 years.
In June 2024, Belgium notified the Commission its plan to support the life extension of two nuclear reactors, with one electricity generation capacity up to 2000 MW.
On July 22, 2024, the Commission started ain -depth investigation To evaluate the need, appropriateness and proportionality of the measure. The Commission expressed doubts regarding the conception of the contract for difference (CFD) and proportionality (of the combination of) financial agreements, which could have lifted the beneficiaries from a too high share of the risk, as well as regarding the proportionality of the amount of the liabilities for transferred nuclear waste.
THE beneficiaries of the measure are Electrabel, a subsidiary of Forgieand Luminus, an EDF subsidiary, as well as “be-nuc”, the new Joint Venture at 50-50 between the Belgian state and Electrabel. Following the measure, both reactors will be joined by BE-NUC with a share of 89.8% and Luminus with a 10.2% share.
Following the additional tests and the changes made to the measure, the Commission concluded that help is necessary and adequate To achieve the objective pursued, as well as proportionate, as limited to the minimum necessary, minimizing the distortions of the competition caused by the measure.