Belgian lower house passes nuclear phase-out bill
Date: 09-Dec-02
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Gilles Castonguay
The Chamber of Deputies, which has been passing a slew of bills ahead of the Christmas holidays, approved the bill with 86 in favour, 49 against and five abstaining, according to a chamber spokesman.
The move is controversial because Belgium gets nearly 60 percent of its electricity from the reactors, making it the country most dependent on nuclear power after France.
The bill, presented by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's cabinet, orders the shutting of the reactors after 40 years of use and bans the construction of new ones.
"The first reactors will be dismantled by February 2015, the last in 2025," read a statement from Secretary of State for Energy Olivier Deleuze, a Green party member who championed the bill.
Electrabel, Belgium's dominant power utility that operates the reactors, denounced the vote.
"We deplore this decision because there is today not any single reason, be it technical, economic or ecological, to close the plants ahead of time," spokeswoman Francoise Vanthemsche told local VRT radio.
Its shares were off 0.3 percent at 236.30 euros.
VIABLE ALTERNATIVES?
Vanthemsche said the government should have conducted a study on viable alternatives to nuclear power before introducing such a bill.
The government will invest in solar, wind and other renewable energy resources as well as build more gas and co-generation plants to compensate for the loss of nuclear power.
The bill, which follows a pledge made by Verhofstadt when it took office three years ago, aims at eliminating the risk of a disastrous accident at one of the reactors and reducing the dangers of radioactive waste.
It goes next week to the Senate, which usually has one to two months to call a vote on a bill.
Politicians who opposed the bill doubted that the country would be able to meet its future energy needs without paying higher costs for it.
But Deleuze has argued that the gradual opening of the country's energy market to competition would keep the cost of electricity down.
He has also said the government is obliged to ensure the country gets the power it needs to function properly.
One study has foreseen the country relying on natural gas for 85 percent of its energy needs. Such a heavy reliance on a single source has been seen as making the country vulnerable to fluctuating gas prices.
Belgium's dilemma is the same as that faced elsewhere in Europe, where nuclear energy meets about a third of consumers' needs.
Puilaetco analyst Sophie Rouard said in a research note that the motives behind the bill were political rather economic.
"We believe that the bill could still be reviewed (by) other governments if there are not enough replacement energy sources," she said.
(Additional reporting by Bart Crols).
