Tractebel Supporting Waste Management Programme at Doel NPP
Tractebel (ENS Corporate Member), together with the Belgian nuclear operator, ENGIE Electrabel, has completed the filling of the first High Integrity Container (HIC) as part of the project to empty the spent fuel pools at the Doel 3 nuclear power plant, within its decommissioning programme.
The project involves non-fissile components from the spent fuel pools that contain part of the intermediate-level radioactive waste from the nuclear reactor.
The process started in 2021 and should be completed by 2027. It includes the cutting of components and the distribution of waste into short-lived low- and intermediate-level waste (CAT-A) and long-lived low- and intermediate-level waste (CAT-B) classes.
The CAT-B waste will be evacuated using high-integrity containers (HIC), which will be immobilised and delivered to Belgoprocess, which is the company responsible for the safe processing of radioactive waste produced in Belgium.
Meanwhile, the CAT-A waste will be evacuated using 400-litre drums, which will be delivered unconditioned to the WAB (Water and Waste treatment building) at Doel nuclear power plant and TDS T2 (Solid Waste treatment building) at the Tihange nuclear power plant.
Additionally, this project encompasses the radiological characterisation of the non-fissile components of the EOP waste.
It is the first time that Tractebel is characterising components of the spent fuel pools that have to be classified as CAT-B waste material.
Read more on Tractebel Press Release.
Doel-3 has been the first Belgian large size reactor to be permanently been shut down on 23rd September 2022, followed by Tihange-2 (1st February 2023), and Doel-1 (15 February 2025).
The Belgian nuclear fleet, which produced more than 41% of the country’s electricity share in 2023, is currently made of four reactors.
On 29th June 2023, ENGIE and the Belgian Government signed an agreement specifying the terms of the extension of the nuclear reactors Doel-4 and Tihange-3, the newest ones of the fleet, which started operating in 1985.
