Federal Agency for Nuclear Control

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The Federal Agency for Nuclear Control ( FANK ; French Agence Fédérale de Contrôle Nucléaire , AFCN ; Dutch Federaal Agentschap voor Nucleaire Controle , FANC ) is the Belgian nuclear regulatory authority . Established in 1994, the agency is based in Brussels and is responsible for monitoring Belgian nuclear reactors.

In Belgium there are seven pressurized water reactors at two nuclear power plant locations. All are operated by Electrabel :

Willy De Roovere (* 1946) headed FANK from 2006 to the end of 2012. He had previously worked at Electrabel for about 30 years . He was involved in the construction of three reactors at the Doel site; in 1989 he became head of Block 3 in Doel.

Jan Bens has headed the authority since January 2013. He was previously (1978 to 2007) employed by the nuclear power plant operator Electrabel, managed the Doel nuclear facility from 2004 to 2008 and then became Vice Director of the World Association of Nuclear Power Plant Operators (WANO). However, the Belgian Interior Minister Joëlle Milquet said in 2013: “ We are dealing with an independent supervisory authority and we have no way of interfering. "

criticism

Two of the seven pressure reactors each have thousands of cracks in their pressure vessels. Block 3 of the Doel nuclear power plant was therefore shut down in August 2012, as was Block 2 of the Tihange nuclear power plant. The Belgian newspaper De Morgen submitted a newspaper report to Willy De Roovere on January 5, 1980 about small cracks in the pressure vessels. De Roovere said that he no longer remembered it. The report shows that the cracks were known before the reactors were commissioned. De Morgen points out conflicts of interest that arise when employees of a supervised company move to the supervisory authority or even take over its management.

financing

The Federal Agency for Nuclear Control will u. a. Financed by annual levies from license holders (including power plant operators), fees and fines.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Willy De Roovere . In: De Morgen .
  2. ↑ Aachener Zeitung No. 124 from June 1, 2013
  3. ↑ Jeroen Van Horenbeek: In 1979 al Scheurtjes in Doel 3 ( Dutch ) In: De Morgen . August 23, 2012. Archived from the original on December 25, 2015. Retrieved on December 26, 2015.
  4. ↑ FANK Act of April 15, 1994, Chapter V, Articles 30 bis to Article 34 , here in particular Articles 30 bis and 31