Updated: Belgium nuclear restart delayed but markets unfazed

Belgium is likely to stay dependent on imports of electricity for longer after the restart date for two nuclear power units with a combined capacity of over 2GW was on Friday pushed back by three months to 1 July.

But regional electricity markets proved resilient to the news, raising the likelihood that the previously-proposed restart date of 1 April had always been held in doubt by power traders.

In France, the Q2 ‘15 Baseload contract merely inched higher to €31.10/MWh, but the biggest moves were weather forecast related and restricted to the front month. In the Netherlands the reaction was similarly muted on the front quarter despite the huge loss of baseload capacity for the entirety of the delivery period.

In Belgium itself the front quarter was briefly bid higher, up €0.90/MWh from the previous day but within minutes €0.55/MWh had been wiped back off this suggesting an immediate reassessment of the risk inherent in the news amid what is in general an oversupplied low-countries region.

Electrabel, a subsidiary of French utility GDF SUEZ and the operator of the two nuclear units Doel 3 and Tihange 2, was hoping to meet the earlier restart date. But that date was never endorsed by the country’s nuclear watchdog, the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control.

The agency convened a panel of experts last November. The panel formulated a number of requests and recommendations which Electrabel said it had analysed “case by case”.

“There is now a clear view on the action plan needed to adequately answer these questions,” the company said in a statement.

Another panel meeting will now take place to review Electrabel’s responses. The all-clear will then be required from Belgium’s nuclear regulator.

Both reactors have been offline since March of last year.

Belgium relies currently on imports mainly from France to make up the loss of domestic power supply. Martin Degen and Jamie Stewart