In line with last year’s ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that the Belgian government should have launched an environmental consultation prior to granting 10-year lifetime extensions for two Electrabel reactors through 2025, the Belgian Constitutional Court this week repealed the law granting those extensions. However, it upheld the effects of the annulled law through Dec. 31, 2022, “at the latest” while a new law is adopted. The Belgian court’s Mar. 5 decision aligns with the government’s warnings against immediate clo- sure of the 445 megawatt Doel-1 and the 433 MW Doel-2 (NIW Aug.2’19). “The Constitutional Court decision is great news for security of supply,” Belgian Energy Minister Marie-Christine Marghem said in a statement to Energy Intelligence. There are now “34 months to conduct the necessary studies for which we already have taken the initiative. Indeed, I started the preparatory work for the impact analyses” after the July 2019 ECJ decision. The environ- mental groups behind the court case praised this week’s ruling. In the future any decision “that may have a significant negative environmental impact” cannot just be written into law, they said in a statement.
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