Extension of nuclear power plants "adopted without the required environmental assessments"

Doel 1 and Doel 2 should continue to run, for reasons of security of supply, but an impact study is needed.

TheBelgian law extending the lifespan of the Doel 1 and Doel 2 nuclear power plants has been adopted without the required environmental badessments, said Thursday EU General Court Attorney General Juliane Kokott . The latter adds, however, that it is not excluded to maintain the effects of the extension law for reasons of security of supply. This opinion of the General Counsel does not bind the Court, but the Judges follow its reasoning in the majority of cases.

In 2015, the Michel government decided to extend the life of the Doel 1 and 2 reactors, the oldest in the country, by ten years.

The non-profit badociations Inter-Environnement Wallonie (IEW) and Bond Beter Leefmilieu Vlaanderen (BBL) brought an action for the annulment of this law before the Constitutional Court, citing the fact that the government had not conducted any impact study or public inquiry. . However, according to them, several European provisions required that such procedures be implemented before authorizing the extension or revival of these reactors.

The Constitutional Court returned these appeals to the European Court in June 2017, asking a number of questions for a preliminary ruling.

In her Opinion, the General Advocate of the CJEU sees "a number of elements suggesting that the law (…) was adopted in breach of the provisions of Union law relating to the obligation to carry out an evaluation. without justification in the security of electricity supply or legal certainty ".

However, she considers
that it is not excluded that it is possible, in this case, to maintain the effects of the law
". Mrs Kokott considers that, in exceptional circumstances, national courts may 'provisionally maintain the effects of a decision which has been adopted in breach of an obligation under EU law to carry out an environmental badessment' provided that that this decision makes the object of a regularization as soon as possible which purges the defect of procedure.