By Helen Maguire
dpa, Berlin
BRUSSELS, Belgium — A fire that led to the shutdown Sunday of a Belgian nuclear reactor was likely caused by a technical fault, plant operator Electrabel said, according to Belga news agency.
“The first indications suggest a technical cause,” Electrabel spokeswoman Geetha Keyaert told Belga.
The incident could put a further strain on Belgium’s electricity grid, after warnings in August that outages at other nuclear plants could lead to power cuts in the approaching winter.
The Tihange 3 power station, situated 70 kilometres south-west of the German town of Aachen, shut down automatically at around 10:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) after one of its transformers caught fire. The fire was caused by an explosion, Sudpresse newspaper group reported on its website.
Electrabel said the fire was under control by the early afternoon, but had not yet been extinguished, as had been reported earlier. The company said the incident had “no impact on nuclear security and the safety of colleagues and residents on the site.”
It was unclear Sunday how long the 1,048-megawatt reactor will remain out of service. Technicians and nuclear inspectors were inspecting the site after the incident. Earlier, Electrabel said it hoped to possibly restart the reactor on Tuesday.
Tihange 3 is now the fourth Belgian nuclear reactor to be out of service, Sudpresse reported, as another plant at Tihange and two at Doel have been shut down due to defects or security concerns.
The Tihange 1 reactor was not affected by Sunday’s incident, however.
Belgium has adopted a nuclear phaseout plan that foresees the complete abandonment of nuclear energy by 2025.
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