Doel Nuclear Power Station

Geschiedenis

The Doel Nuclear Power Station is one of two nuclear power plants in Belgium. The plant is located on the bank of the Scheldt river, near the village of Doel in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The station is operated and majority-owned by vertically-integrated Belgian energy corporation Electrabel. EDF Luminus has a 10% stake in the two newest units. It employs 963 workers and covers an area of. The plant represents about 15% of Belgium's total electricity production capacity and 30% of the total electricity generation. Nuclear energy typically provides half of Belgium's domestically-generated electricity and is the country's lowest-cost source of power.The station is located in the most densely populated area for any power station in Europe, with 9 million inhabitants within a radius of.HistoryThe powerstation was built by a public utility Ebes which merged into Electrabel in 1990 together with Intercom and Unerg. The design of the plant was made by the Belgian engineering firm Tractebel. Doel 1 and 2 are twin units that entered commercial operation in 1975. Doel 3 entered commercial operation in 1982 and Doel 4 in 1985. Doel 1, 2 and 4 were delivered by the ACECOWEN (ACEC-Cockerill-Westinghouse) consortium. While Doel 3 was delivered by FRAMACEC (Framatome-ACEC-Cockerill).