Countries within a radius of 1,000 kilometers around the Doel nuclear power stations will have a say on the new permit for the Doel 1 and 2 power stations.
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As a result of a judgment of the Constitutional Court, there will be a public questionnaire about the Doel 1 and Doel 2 nuclear power stations. The Court ruled this spring that extending the lifespan of the nuclear power stations in 2015 was illegal. An environmental impact assessment (EIA) was required in advance to keep the two power stations open for ten years longer. The Constitutional Court quashed the law in question.
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To ensure the energy supply, a transition period was introduced until the end of 2022, during which an EIA report had to be drawn up on the lifespan extension of the two power stations, including cross-border participation.
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The previous government has entrusted the EIA report to the nuclear research center SCK CEN. The administration has already started to prepare the public inquiry. Initially it was assumed that, apart from Belgians, only residents of the neighboring countries of the Netherlands and Germany were eligible. But the administration goes much further: all residents of the surrounding countries within a radius of 1,000 kilometers will have their say.
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The environmental government service has informed all countries in that radius that Belgium is organizing a public inquiry about the life extension of the two nuclear power plants. Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Poland, Denmark and Ireland have already responded that they are interested.
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Their comments can, but should not give rise to changes in the EIA report. Especially in Germany, the resistance against the Belgian nuclear power plants is very lively.
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The environmental effects have yet to be assessed this year, the cross-border public inquiry is for next year, so that there is time to amend the law in 2022.
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