Belgium's nuclear security regime is robust, an international team of experts has concluded after a two-week follow-up review led by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The availability of Engie's Belgian nuclear power plants will rise to 78% this year, from 52% last year, according to its 2018 financial statement released yesterday. That percentage is expected to increase to 79% in 2020 and 93% in 2021, it added.

Ondraf/Niras, the Belgian agency for the management of radioactive waste, yesterday submitted a completed licence application for the construction of a low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal facility at Dessel.

Belgium's regulatory body, the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control, has approved the restart of unit 2 of the Doel plant following repairs to a corroded pipeline in a safety cooling water circuit. Repairs to the same pipeline in Doel 1 continue.

Belgium's Nuclear Research Centre and the Institut National des Radioéléments are to collaborate on a project to recycle highly radioactive residues resulting from the production of radioisotopes for medical purposes.

Sarens has unveiled the world's largest crane which will be used for all major lifting at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, England. Meanwhile, PaR Systems will make a crane for NuScale's small modular reactor in Idaho, USA.

China and Belgium have signed a framework agreement on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The agreement was one of several accords signed in Brussels yesterday during a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.

Scheduled outages at Belgium's Tihange 2 and 3 have been further extended while concrete degradation issues in adjacent non-nuclear buildings are addressed, operator Electrabel has announced.

A framework cooperation agreement has been signed between Norway's Institute for Energy Technology and Belgium's Nuclear Research Centre, through which the two organisations will extend their collaboration on nuclear research and decommissioning.

Belgium's Council of Ministers has approved EUR558 million (USD646 million) in funding for the Myrrha accelerator-driven research reactor at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre's site in Mol.

A memorandum of understanding signed between Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA and Belgium's Nuclear Research Centre aims at extending cooperation on nuclear safety.

Belgium's nuclear power plant operator Electrabel has revised the timetable for scheduled maintenance outages at three of its reactors to check for degradation of concrete in the ceilings of buildings housing back-up safety-related equipment. The extended outages will cost the company some EUR250 million (USD290 million).