BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Belgium is set to shut down an ageing nuclear reactor on Tuesday that has long caused controversy in neighboring Germany, despite delaying its overall exit from atomic energy.
The Tihange 2 reactor is the second to be taken offline by Belgium in the last four months as part of a two-decade-old plan to wean itself off nuclear power.
German officials have for years called for the 40-year-old facility to be shuttered over security concerns after thousands of hairline cracks were found in its pressure vessels.
Brussels rebuffed those calls — but was finally set to turn off Tihange 2 just before midnight on Tuesday as part of its longer-term plans.
“The shutdown of the plant guarantees significantly increased security in our two countries,” Germany’s environment minister Steffi Lemke told local media.
The reactor is located just 50 kilometers from Belgium’s border with Germany.
The promise of a gradual phase-out of nuclear power has been enshrined in Belgian law since 2003.