The 1993 Resolution
In 1993, for the first time, a parliamentary debate decided on the
Belgian national policy concerning MOX and reprocessing. The decisions
were to be respected for a five-year period, at the end of which another
parliamentary debate is to decide of a new policy.
Following is a large excerpt from the 1993 resolution: "The House [of
Representatives], [...] instructs the Government:
1) not to give privilege in the future to the strategy of reprocessing
as compared to the storage and to direct disposal (once through cycle).
The Government cannot consider anymore reprocessing as the reference
strategy. It must create the conditions which enable the development
of the strategy of packaging and direct disposal as an alternative;
2) during a five year period: - not to execute the contract agreed
in 1990; - not to confirm the options which were planned through this
contract, which Belgium was to confirm in 1995; - not to negotiate any
new contract during this period which is to be devoted to the analysis
of the alternatives;
3) to give priority to research and development, including on an international
level, in order to be able later to opt for the direct disposal of spent
fuel, without reducing the current research programme concerning the
geological disposal of reprocessing waste. The report which is transmitted
each year to the Houses of Representatives by [the national nuclear
waste management organisation] ONDRAF will comprise a precise progress
report of these research programmes.
4) to submit [to the Houses of Representatives] the elements for a
new global evaluation of the situation, notably on the basis of the
following criteria: non proliferation, management of waste, security,
protection of the workforce, of the population and of the environment,
and also economic aspects.
5) Taking into account the result of the legal analysis requested by
the Government and the House of Representatives concerning the economic
consequences which would follow cancellation of the reprocessing contract
signed in 1978, to allow the fulfillment of the contract. The Government
will examine the possibility of transmitting to a third body part of
the reprocessing capacities of the spent fuel which has not yet been
sent to La Hague;
6) To allow for the use of the plutonium which has been separated with
the 1978 reprocessing contract in the Belgian nuclear power plants,
based on the analysis of possible usage and the results of the safety
analysis. The latter notably plans that the power plants not be modified;
[...]
11) to have the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control operational as soon
as possible, after the Bill is adopted by the Houses of Representatives."
There are three points of this resolution which have not been properly
respected. The first one concerns reprocessing contracts - a reprocessing
contract was signed with the French reprocessor COGEMA for the reprocessing
of spent fuel from the demonstration 11 MWe BR3 pressurised water reactor
(PWR), which was definitely shut down in 1987. The second point concerns
the "Federal Agency for Nuclear Control". This organisation still does
not exist five years after the House of Representatives requested its
establishment "as soon as possible". Sources in Belgium suggest that
this Agency will be created shortly. However, its planned statutes and
selection of future staff have been criticised, notably by the Green
MP Martine Dardenne. It seems that the new organisation will mainly
hire current representatives of the nuclear industry, which will not
favor its independence. The third point is that reprocessing is still
considered to be the reference scenario. No plans have been made, no
national studies have been carried out on the direct storage of spent
fuel.
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Map
of plutonium in Belgium ( Pdf format, 68 Ko) 
