Belgium's nuclear power production

Official Name: Kingdom of Belgium.

Summary: Belgium is a relatively small country in the heart of the European Union (EU) that is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, on one hand, and domestic production of nuclear energy on the other. The government has decided to phase out its nuclear power production.

Belgium is located in western Europe, bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France, and the North Sea. It is a federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch. As a result of successive constitutional revisions, there are now three levels of government: federal, regional, and community. Each of the three Belgian regions (Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels-Capital) and each of the three linguistic communities (the Flemish-, French-, and German-speaking communities) have their own parliaments and governments.

The responsibilities for economic and energy policy are distributed between the federal state and the regions. The regions are principally responsible for energy efficiency, renewables, nonnuclear energy research and development (R&D), and distribution and supply of electricity and gas. The federal government is responsible for security of supply, climate issues, nuclear fuel cycles and related R&D, tariff regulation, and large infrastructures for storage, transport, and distribution of energy. At the moment of the Belgian revolution and independence in 1830, the country was a net exporter of coal and one of the top producers in the world. Coal mines were located in the Walloon provinces of Hainaut and Liège, which were also major steel-producing regions. Shortly after World War I, coal mines were also opened in the Flemish province of Limburg, but they were rather short-lived. In the 1950s, the Belgian coal sector began to experience great difficulties, and coal mines had to be shut down. The last Belgian coal mines were shut down in 1992.

Today, Belgium’s primary energy sources are oil and natural gas, which account, respectively, for 37 percent and 27 percent of the nation’s energy supply. Nuclear power is the third most important fuel, with a share of 22 percent. The share of gas has grown no less than 78 percent since 1990, while the consumption of solid fuels has been gradually decreasing. Renewable sources account for only 2 percent of gross energy consumption.

According to the target set by the European Commission in its climate plan of January 2007, Belgium needs to obtain 13 percent of its electricity production from renewable sources by the year 2020. Offshore wind energy will play a major role if Belgium is to attain this target. Since 2004, the Belgian government has assigned a zone for the production of electricity in the Belgian part of the North Sea and has granted concessions and environmental permits to several companies to exploit an offshore wind farm.

Belgium fully opened its gas and electricity markets to competition in January 2007, in accordance with the EU’s electricity directive. In spite of this liberalization effort, the power generation market remains heavily dominated by Electrabel, a subsidiary company of the French company GDF Suez. In 2008, Electrabel had a market share in the sector of electricity generation of more than 90 percent.

Domestic energy production in Belgium is largely based on nuclear energy. Belgium’s first commercial nuclear power reactor began operating in 1974. Today, Belgium has seven nuclear reactors, which generate 54 percent of its domestically produced electricity. In January 2003, the federal government approved a law prohibiting the building of new nuclear power plants and limiting the operating lives of existing ones to 40 years (to 2014–25).

Belgium’s dependency on imported energy is very strong and exceeds the average for EU nations. The majority of imports relate to oil, which originates mainly from the Russian Federation and Middle Eastern countries. Natural gas also constitutes a large share of imports, with the main suppliers being Norway, the Netherlands, and Algeria. Solid fuels are imported mainly from South Africa and Australia.

Although Belgium has to import virtually all its fossil fuels, its central geographic location and advanced infrastructure have led to its playing an important role in Europe’s oil, gas, and coal supply chains. With its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Zeebrugge and its interconnectors to Norway and the United Kingdom, Belgium is a major hub of natural gas flows in the region. In addition, Belgium transits between 1 and 1.3 million tons of coal per year to other European countries. Finally, Belgium’s large domestic oil-refining sector has led it to become a net exporter of refined oil products.

Bibliography

European Commission. “Belgium: Energy Mix Fact Sheet.” http://ec.europa.eu/energy/energy‗policy/doc/factsheets/mix/mix‗be‗en.pdf.

International Energy Agency. Energy Policies of IEA Countries. Belgium: In-Depth Review 2009. Paris: International Energy Agency, 2009.

U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Country Analysis Brief: Belgium.” http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=BE.

World Nuclear Association. “Nuclear Power in Belgium.” http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf94.html.