“In
all honesty, if I consider the risk, I would choose other forms of energy.”
-
outgoing head of Belgium’s Agence Fédérale
de Contrôle Nucléaire (AFCN), December 24, 2012
It
is sometimes interesting to hear the frank thoughts of retiring politicians and
officials, and more interesting when they try to bring about the change that
was impossible in their official roles. Al Gore is famous for his campaign to
raise awareness of global warming. Mikhail Gorbachev atoned for Chernobyl by
establishing Green Cross, Jimmy Carter worked
for Habitat for Humanity and Bill
Clinton organized the foundation of a public
health care system for Rwanda. George H.W. Bush has a reputation for enjoying
golf and the lecture circuit, but he too has supported various
good causes. It seems like powerful people can do more for the world after
they are out of power, if they decide to use their public profiles and retirement time
well.
A
recent addition to this list might be Willy De Roovere. He’s not a former world
leader, but he is a rare nuclear industry insider who was willing to publicly
discuss the problems with nuclear energy that have become evident in the
post-Fukushima world.
The
report below is a translation of an article in Le Monde that appeared in late December, 2012. I was waiting to see
if English language media would pick it up, but none did, so it fell on me to
translate it for the English speaking world.
Le Monde 2012/12/27
Jean-Pierre
Stroobants
Brussels
(translated
from the original French report)
The director of the Belgian Agence Fédérale de Contrôle Nucléaire (AFCN)
until the end of the year, Willy De Roovere, caused a sensation in his country
by calling into question the safety of the industry. “We should ask ourselves
if the risk of nuclear is still acceptable,” he explained on Monday December 24, on a public Flemish language
radio broadcast. This top regulator managed in the past, among other
responsibilities, the Doel nuclear power plant, one of two in Belgium.
“In all honesty, if I consider the risk,
I would choose other forms of energy,” added Mr. De Roovere in this interview,
evoking the economic risks linked to such a decision. Every industry carries
some risk, he continued, “but it is very difficult in the present period” to
make the population accept the risks associated with nuclear energy - in
particular, in a territory as densely populated as Belgium, where an evacuation
could involve hundreds of thousands of people. Mr. De Roovere explained in
another interview published on Tuesday in the Belgian daily Le Soir, “My thoughts are a consequence
of the catastrophe in Fukushima. With nuclear the risks are low, but the
consequences of an accident can be extremely serious.”
“The
existing power plants must be watched very closely.”
The director of the AFCN feels that from
now on it is appropriate, in Belgium and in Europe, to avoid constructing more
nuclear power plants. As for existing ones, “They must be watched very closely,”
he declared. With regard to next generation reactors, Mr. De Roovere insists, “Each
country should debate while keeping in mind the principal question: what is the
level of residual risk that is acceptable for the population? I suppose this
discussion took place in France when there was a decision to construct an EPR
reactor.”
Nonetheless, Mr. De Roovere has a
reassuring attitude about the regulation of Belgian nuclear installations. If
he thinks the controls can never exclude the possibility of a failure, he states, “we can ensure
that a failure will not lead to a catastrophe. And, until now, no discovered faults
in the facilities have posed any risk to the population.”
The comments by the top person at the
agency came as a surprise because two Belgian reactors, Tihange
2 and Doel 3 have been stopped since August. Their reactor vessels had numerous micro-fissures. Operated
by Electrabel, subsidiary of GDF Suez, these reactors are the most modern of
seven reactors in Belgium, and they supply 30% of electricity consumption in
the country.
The AFCN will have to decide, probably
within twenty days, if it will authorize their restart. It is the successor of
Mr. De Roovere, Jans Bens, another former director of Doel, who must make this
decision. This past summer, the AFCN announced that it was “skeptical” about a
restart of Doel 3.
In
Europe, safety inquiries have not always been convincing.
Electrabel declared in early December
that Tihange 2 and Doel 3 could restart immediately. Teams of electricians,
assisted by foreign experts, confirmed that international standards had been met
at the time of construction of the power plants. The metal of the reactor
vessels is sound and bubbles had resulted from minimal flaws caused by
hydrogen.
These bubbles were formed at the time
when the vessels were forged by a Dutch company, Rotterdamsche Droogdok
Maatschappij (RDM). At the time when the reactors were stopped, the former head of this corporation
rejected this theory.
The final decision of the AFCN, which is
a prelude to the final decision by the Belgian government, will be followed
with interest in other countries. This is because RDM sold twenty similar
reactor vessels throughout the world. Also, in the aftermath of Fukushima,
there is strong concern about all nuclear installations in Europe. The
inquiries that have been launched by the European Commission attempted to be
reassuring, but they haven’t convinced all parties.
On the other hand, the Nuclear Forum, a
Belgian lobby group, believes that stress tests have proven that nuclear power
plants in Europe, and particularly in Belgium, are safe. It finds Mr. De
Roovere’s position “incomprehensible.”
After various reversals, several months
ago the Belgian authorities adopted a timetable for moving beyond nuclear. It
plans a definitive stop of five reactors in 2025, and Doel 1 and 2 are to stop
in 2015. The decision was made before conclusive tests were complete, which
leaves the door open to other changes in the plan.
Unless a crisis of supply – a real
possibility evoked in an official report last May – comes along to upset these
plans.
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