The Belgian can help decide what happens to the nuclear waste that remains after the dismantling of the nuclear power plants. The ‘great national dialogue’ will start this autumn and will last at least a year and a half. From now until 2025, at least five of the seven nuclear power plants on Belgian territory will close, the first already in October of this year.
The dismantling of the nuclear sites will take decades and, according to federal energy minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen), it will be the most expensive as well as the most expensive – the bill amounts to more than 40 billion euros – and the most delicate site that our country has ever known.
The latter has a lot to do with the highly radioactive waste that remains behind and remains radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years, and for which there is no definitive solution, despite scientific research.
Citizen can participate in the decision
The government is now letting citizens participate in the decision-making process about what should be done with that highly radioactive waste, Van der Straeten says. If all goes well, the proposal will be approved by the Council of Ministers later today. “The decision of the salvage is one that belongs to all Belgians and not just to me as a minister or this government,” says Van der Straeten. “The decisions we make regarding this waste will affect hundreds of generations to come.”
The King Baudouin Foundation will organize and supervise the ‘great national dialogue’. The initiative will start in the autumn and will take at least a year and a half.
Representative panels
In concrete terms, the intention is to put together representative panels that include ordinary citizens, but also civil society, industry, academics, experts and also producers of nuclear waste. They will discuss, among other things, the long-term storage of the waste and the location where this should be done. Van der Straeten argues for a “broad process without taboos”. The intention is to involve the population “as closely as possible” in every decision, for example about the location of the storage.
The ‘national dialogue’ will start this autumn, but first the King Baudouin Foundation will need about six months to draw up an initial memorandum containing the themes to be discussed. In a next phase, several online initiatives will be presented to the public, after which an interim report is prepared and thematic workshops or citizens’ conferences are also organised. All this takes about 9 months. Finally, a broad stakeholder forum will follow, after which a final report with conclusions and recommendations will be prepared.
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