The design room unanimously supports the establishment of the core billing at Engie-Electrabel | interior

It is now known that five out of seven nuclear power plants in our country will be closed in the coming years. The combined dismantling of these sites and the management of radioactive waste will cost 41 billion euros and work will likely continue after 2100. Energy Minister Tine van der Straten talks constantly about “our country’s longest, most expensive and most sensitive shipyard”.

The French energy company Engie operates nuclear power plants in our country through Electrabel. The intent is that the nuclear power plant operator, in this case Electrabel, bears the costs. To this end, Synatom was created in 2003, a subsidiary of Engie-Electrabel where currently nearly €14 billion in nuclear allotment has been made.

There is only fear that the money will not be ready when you need it. That’s because Electrabel can borrow money from Synatom on its own. At the end of 2021, according to Van der Straeten, a little more than 8.3 billion, less than 14.4 billion euros, was loaned to Electrabel.

A bill by Van der Straeten now puts an end to this possibility. Electrabel should repay the loans to Synatom by 2030, and the majority of the money should be repaid by 2025, according to Van der Straeten.

In addition, the Nuclear Utilities Authority (CNV) is gaining more strength. CNV will have to give its blessing in advance if Electrabel wants to pay dividends to French parent company Engie or reduce its own resources. This should prevent Engy from disassembling the Electrabel and the basic bill still expires with the taxpayer. A few months ago, Elektrabel channeled more than 1.2 billion euros to Engie in this way.

On Thursday evening, the full council approved another bill introduced by van der Straiten, which gives Belgians a say in how to store radioactive waste. There is still no definitive solution to this. A royal decree should explain this in more detail later this year, but the intention is for the King Baudouin Foundation to organize and oversee the process. The “Great National Dialogue” should begin this fall and last at least 18 months.