Global Nuclear Renaissance: The US and Belgium Bring Shuttered Reactors Back Online, While Germany Likely Won't

A growing global trend is emerging: bringing previously shut-down nuclear power units back online after they were mothballed for economic reasons. In the United States, at least three reactors are being prepared for restart, while Belgium has officially reversed its decision to phase out nuclear power and intends to bring its plants back into service. Germany, meanwhile, despite some political voices calling for a rethink of its nuclear exit, is unlikely to follow suit, according to experts.

Most reactors in Europe and the US were built in the 1970s and 1980s, and many are now approaching the 40–50 year mark of operation, the analysis notes. Amid a sharp rise in electricity demand — driven in part by the growth of artificial intelligence, which requires stable power sources for data centers — countries are seeking to extend the safe operating life of existing units as much as possible. A reactor's lifespan is limited primarily by the condition of its reactor vessel, which is economically impractical to replace, whereas other equipment can be swapped out as needed.

Industry monitoring data show that control samples of reactor vessel metal have proven more resistant to neutron irradiation than previously assumed, and proper core configuration along with metal annealing allow reactors to safely operate for 60 to 80 years. The oldest operating reactors at Switzerland's Beznau plant are approaching 55 years in service, while a number of American units have already received licenses for 60 and even 80 years of operation. The Czech utility ČEZ is pursuing a similar strategy of extending the service life of its Dukovany and Temelín units to 80 years.

In the US, three projects to restart plants once considered permanently closed are at an advanced stage. The first is the Palisades nuclear plant, an 800 MW reactor shut down in 2022 after 51 years of operation, even though its license was valid until 2031. The plant was purchased by Holtec, a company previously specializing in decommissioning nuclear stations, which now plans to restart the reactor this year, secure a 20-year license extension, and build two SMR-300 small modular reactors at the site.

The second project involves the first unit at Three Mile Island, an 880 MW reactor shut down in 2019. Constellation Energy decided to bring it back online after Microsoft signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with the plant. The station will be renamed Crane Clean Energy Center and is expected to restart in 2027, with a possible license extension to 2054 — meaning the reactor's total operating lifespan could reach 80 years.

The third unit is Duane Arnold in Iowa, a 600 MW reactor shut down in 2020 after a hurricane damaged its cooling tower, with repairs deemed uneconomical at the time. Now, with a 25-year power supply contract signed with Google, cooling system repairs and relicensing procedures are underway, with a restart expected in 2029. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has even set up a dedicated unit specifically to handle the restart of previously shuttered plants.

Japan presents a different picture, having shut down all its reactors following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster. Of the 54 units operating before the accident, 15 have already been decommissioned, 15 have been restarted, another 10 are being prepared for restart, and the fate of eight remains undecided. Beyond strict seismic safety requirements from regulators, restarting a plant in Japan critically depends on winning local community approval — which is precisely what allowed TEPCO, the operator of Fukushima Daiichi, to restart the sixth unit of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant this year.

In Belgium, seven reactors at the Doel and Tihange plants, with a combined capacity of about 5.9 GW, previously supplied over 50% of the country's electricity. A 2003 law mandated a complete nuclear phase-out by 2025, but the energy crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East forced Belgium to reconsider. In 2023, the ban on nuclear power was lifted, and the plants' operator, France's Engie, agreed to keep the two newest units, Doel 4 and Tihange 3, running, securing new ten-year operating licenses. The Belgian state is now negotiating with Engie over full nationalization of the nuclear fleet and intends to operate the newest units until at least 2045, as well as restore the five older reactors, banning any irreversible steps toward their dismantling.

In Germany, however, where voices — including from politicians of Bavaria's CSU — are increasingly saying the nuclear phase-out was a mistake, the chances of a restart remain slim. At issue are the last three units shut down in 2022 — Isar 2, Neckarwestheim, and Emsland — which are not yet forty years old, technically allowing for another 20–40 years of operation. However, their operators have already begun decommissioning procedures, and Germany's nuclear safety regulator, unlike its American counterpart, is shrinking rather than expanding the departments responsible for reactor safety. According to the analysis's author, there has been no fundamental shift in German society's or politicians' attitudes toward nuclear power, none of the former plant operators is willing to re-enter the business, and the new licensing procedure required for a restart would take several years and would only make economic sense if the reactors ran for at least a decade. The conclusion: Germany is unlikely to bring its shuttered reactors back online for a long time to come — not until the experience of neighboring countries convinces it that its current energy strategy was a mistake.

Read also: Free Czech language courses for foreigners: where to learn

Source: osel.cz