On Monday, Electrabel announced that the Doel 4 nuclear reactor will be started up again on the 21st of December. It was shut down on the 5th of August following damage to the turbine. The judicial inquiry has yet to find the person or persons responsible for the incident. The Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (Agence fédérale de contrôle nucléaire, AFCN) will impose a series of stricter safety and security measures on all Belgian nuclear power stations. The inquest into the incident on the 5th of August discovered that the turbine’s oil reservoir was totally empty, due to an evacuation conduit being opened manually.
Vandalism was rapidly suspected. The Agency immediately imposed stricter security measures to avoid a similar incident.
Meanwhile, the AFCN examined the stricter security measures necessary to start up the reactor again safely. The measures imposed by the AFCN will be put in place in all Belgian nuclear power stations, at Doel and at Thiange.
Security will be improved thanks to numerous extra cameras, the modification of the access badge system, and other security measures. The principal of “four eyes” (meaning employees can only access certain areas in pairs) has been put in place. The AFCN has also requested stricter security measures like additional checks on the configuration of database backups and back-up circuits.
BELGIAN MEDIA SUPPORT: The press release this article is based on can be looked at in full via Belga Media Support.
(Source: Belga)
