Country down to three operational reactor units
Belgium’s Engie-Electrabel shut down the Tihange-1 nuclear power plant at 23:21 local time on Tuesday, 30 September, disconnecting it from the grid after 50 years of operation.
The 962-MW pressurised water reactor near the eastern city of Liege began commercial operation on 1 October 1975. Construction of the Framatome-designed reactor unit started in 1970.
Tihange-1 has become the fourth unit in Belgium’s fleet of seven to be permanently shut down.
In February 2025, the Doel-1 nuclear power plant near Antwerp was permanently shut down, while the older Doel-3 and Tihange-2 had already been shut down in 2022 and 2023. Doel-2 remains scheduled for retirement in November.
Tihange-1’s first 40 years of operating lifetime expired in 2015 and the reactor received a 10-year life extension.
Under a Belgian nuclear phaseout law of 2003, all seven nuclear reactor units in Belgium at the time had to be permanently shut down by 2025.
In March 2022, in light of concerns about security of supply in the context of the energy crisis and the Russian war against Ukraine, the Belgian federal government decided to keep the two newest Belgian nuclear power plants, Doel-4 and Tihange-3, in operation for an additional 10 years.
Extending operation beyond 2025 for Tihange-1 and Doel-2 would have required significant additional safety upgrades and a further 10-year periodic safety review. Engie had indicated it was not prepared to undertake such investments and associated risks.
However, in April 2025, a new governing collation in Brussels reversed the 2003 nuclear phaseout law signalled a move towards long-term operation of nuclear reactors and potentially new-build efforts.
A month earlier, Engie finalised an agreement with the government on the extended operation of Doel-4 and Tihange-3, including a transfer of financial responsibility for nuclear waste and spent fuel, a significant financial issue for both parties.
Belgium also received a European Commission approval to grant state support to Engie to extend the lifespan of the two reactors.
In early 2025, as Belgium’s governing collation was formed, the political agreement called for a 4 GW share in the country's electricity mix as part of efforts to secure a carbon-free baseload capacity, a requirement which would mean keeping four operational reactors in the near future.
According to the VRT news station, Belgium’s government has asked Engie to avoid irreversible decommissioning steps at Tihange-1 while talks continue on a possible restart.
“Discussions initiated by energy minister Mathieu Bihet are underway with the owners of Belgian nuclear power plants,” the ministry was quoted as saying by VRT.
Local media said the decommissioning stage is not scheduled to start until 2028.
According to the Belgian Nuclear Forum, Tihange-1 produced about 327 TWh of electricity during its 50 years of operation, which translated to avoiding 148 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. The reactor was online 77.6% of the time during its lifetime.
The shutdown of Tihange-1 is “a decision that is difficult to understand” and “a shock to absorb” for municipal finances, according to Christophe Collignon, the mayor of the town of Huy, where the Tihange site is located.
“We need electricity more and more, whether for the vehicles we are asking citizens to adopt, or for our businesses,” he told the Belga news agency.
“We have a tool here that is satisfactory and managed under good conditions,” Collignon was quoted as saying.
