Tihange 1 nuclear reactor unexpectedly fails, ‘but supply is not compromised’

It’s a safety mechanism that goes into effect as soon as there’s a problem with those steam turbines, explains Engie’s spokeswoman. It is still not clear what exactly the problem with the power turbines is. Angie is hopeful that she can get the power plant back up and running on Tuesday, “but that could still change depending on the technical analysis,” says Engie.

Tihange 1 has a maximum capacity of about 1,000 megawatts, but a meltdown shouldn’t be a problem. The other five nuclear reactors still operating in Belgium are currently working as they should.

So the network operator Elia does not expect any issues with security of supply. “It was not compromised at all,” says Elia’s spokeswoman. “We are currently very wide in terms of production capacity and we don’t expect any problems in terms of supply. There is certainly still enough production to cover demand. I don’t see a problem in the short term.”