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Nuclear Power In Belgium
Belgium has two nuclear power plants operating with a net capacity of 5,761 MWe. Electricity consumption in Belgium has increased slowly since 1990 and in 2016 nuclear power provided 51.3%, 41 TWh per year, of the country's electricity. The country's first commercial nuclear power plant began operating in 1974. Belgium decided to phase out nuclear power generation completely by 2025. In March 2022, due to the Russian invasion on Ukraine, Belgium decided to postpone closing of two reactors by 10 additional years. History Belgium has a long industrial history in the nuclear sector. Biraco in Olen, which regularly hosted Marie and Pierre Curie, was at the start of the industrial production of radium in 1922. The uranium ore used was discovered in 1913 in Katanga in then Belgian Congo by Union Minière du Haut-Katanga. The ore found in the Shinkolobwe mine was exceptionally rich. Even before World War II the United States expressed interest, however it wasn't until 1942 when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Energy transformation, energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt (1736–1819), an 18th-century Scottish people, Scottish invention, inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved the Newcomen steam engine, Newcomen engine with his own Watt steam engine, steam engine in 1776. Watt's invention was fundamental for the Industrial Revolution. Overview When an object's velocity is held constant at one metre per second against a constant opposing force of one Newton (unit), newton, the rate at which Work (physics), work is done is one watt. : \mathrm In terms of electromagnetism, one watt is the rate at which electrical work is performed when a current of one ampere (A) flows across an electrical potentia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mol, Belgium
Mol () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality only comprises the town of Mol. In 2021, Mol had a total population of 37,021 inhabitants. The total area is 114.19 km2. Mol is a popular holiday resort, with many lakes surrounded by woods. There are two main tourist lakes: *Zilvermeer, which opened as a Provincial Park in 1959 and offers a white sand beach as well as facilities such as an outdoor playground and an underwater museum for divers. *Zilverstrand: Originally, it had only an outdoor lake with a white sand beach. Later, a caravan park was built and mid-1990s an indoor swimming pool was created. Furthermore, there is a Sun Parks holiday centre called "Kempense Meren" with an indoor swimming pool. The museum of Jakob Smits is located in the former vicarage of Mol-Sluis. This displays works of the artist Jakob Smits (1855-1928) and other painters of the Molse School, who were attracted to the area by its rustic views including severa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Research Reactor
Research reactors are nuclear fission-based nuclear reactors that serve primarily as a neutron source. They are also called non-power reactors, in contrast to power reactors that are used for electricity production, heat generation, or maritime propulsion. Purpose The neutrons produced by a research reactor are used for neutron scattering, non-destructive testing, analysis and testing of materials, production of radioisotopes, research and public outreach and education. Research reactors that produce radioisotopes for medical or industrial use are sometimes called isotope reactors. Reactors that are optimised for beamline experiments nowadays compete with spallation sources. Technical aspects Research reactors are simpler than power reactors and operate at lower temperatures. They need far less fuel, and far less fission products build up as the fuel is used. On the other hand, their fuel requires more highly enriched uranium, typically up to 20% U-235, although some use 93 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kinshasa
Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one of the world's fastest growing megacities. The city of Kinshasa is also one of the DRC's 26 provinces. Because the administrative boundaries of the city-province cover a vast area, over 90 percent of the city-province's land is rural in nature, and the urban area occupies a small but expanding section on the western side. Kinshasa is Africa's third-largest metropolitan area after Cairo and Lagos. It is also the world's largest nominally Francophone urban area, with French being the language of government, education, media, public services and high-end commerce in the city, while Lingala is used as a ''lingua franca'' in the street. Kinshasa hosted the 14th Francophonie Summit in October 2012. Residents of Kinshasa are known as ''Kinoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regional Center For Nuclear Studies
The Regional Center for Nuclear Studies in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, (CREN-K, french: Centre Régional d'Études Nucléaires de Kinshasa), prior to 1970 known as the Trico Center (french: Centre Trico), houses the TRICO I and TRICO II nuclear research reactors. TRICO I was the first nuclear reactor on the African continent. History In 1956, prior to the independence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from Belgium, Luc Gillon, rector of Lovanium University launched the idea of establishing a research reactor at the university. In 1958, the government of Belgian Congo, with the approval of the Belgian minister of Congo and Ruanda-Urundi bought a TRIGA MARK I reactor from General Atomics. The Trico Center was constructed to house the reactor on land belonging to the science and medical faculties of the Lovanium University (later University of Kinshasa). It became operational in May 1959 and was incorporated into the studies of Congolese and other African student ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atomium
The Atomium ( , , ) is a landmark building in Brussels, Belgium, originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo '58). It is located on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Laeken (northern part of the City of Brussels), where the exhibition took place. Nowadays, it is the city's most popular tourist attraction, and serves as a museum, an art centre and a cultural place. Designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn and the architects André and Jean Polak, it stands tall. Its nine stainless steel clad spheres are connected in the shape of a unit cell that could represent an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Steel tubes connecting the spheres enclose stairs, escalators and an elevator (in the central, vertical tube) to allow access to the six visitable spheres, which contain exhibit halls and other public spaces. The top sphere includes a restaurant with a panoramic view of Brussels. The building was completely renovated between 2004 and 2006 by the companies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brussels World's Fair
Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (french: Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles de 1958, nl, Brusselse Wereldtentoonstelling van 1958), was a world's fair held on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Belgium, from 17 April to 19 October 1958. It was the first major world's fair registered under the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) after World War II. Background Expo 58 was the eleventh world's fair hosted by Belgium, and the fifth in Brussels, following the fairs in 1888, 1897, 1910 and 1935. In 1953, Belgium won the bid for the next world's fair, winning out over other European capitals such as Paris and London. Nearly 15,000 workers spent three years building the site on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau, north-west of central Brussels. Many of the buildings were re-used from the 1935 World's Fair, which had been held on the same site. The theme of Expo 58 was ''"Bilan du monde, pour un monde plus humain"'' (in English: "Evalu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atomium Brussel
The Atomium ( , , ) is a landmark building in Brussels, Belgium, originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo '58). It is located on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Laeken (northern part of the City of Brussels), where the exhibition took place. Nowadays, it is the city's most popular tourist attraction, and serves as a museum, an art centre and a cultural place. Designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn and the architects André and Jean Polak, it stands tall. Its nine stainless steel clad spheres are connected in the shape of a unit cell that could represent an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Steel tubes connecting the spheres enclose stairs, escalators and an elevator (in the central, vertical tube) to allow access to the six visitable spheres, which contain exhibit halls and other public spaces. The top sphere includes a restaurant with a panoramic view of Brussels. The building was completely renovated between 2004 and 2006 by the companies Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing is the chemical separation of fission products and actinides from spent nuclear fuel. Originally, reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing nuclear weapons. With commercialization of nuclear power, the reprocessed plutonium was recycled back into MOX nuclear fuel for thermal reactors. The reprocessed uranium, also known as the spent fuel material, can in principle also be re-used as fuel, but that is only economical when uranium supply is low and prices are high. A breeder reactor is not restricted to using recycled plutonium and uranium. It can employ all the actinides, closing the nuclear fuel cycle and potentially multiplying the energy extracted from natural uranium by about 60 times. Reprocessing must be highly controlled and carefully executed in advanced facilities by highly specialized personnel. Fuel bundles which arrive at the sites from nuclear power plants (after having cooled down for several years) are completely dissolv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It is a forum whose member countries describe themselves as committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practices, and coordinate domestic and international policies of its members. The majority of OECD members are high-income economies with a very high Human Development Index (HDI), and are regarded as developed countries. Their collective population is 1.38 billion. , the OECD member countries collectively comprised 62.2% of global nominal GDP (US$49.6 trillion) and 42.8% of global GDP ( Int$54.2 trillion) at purchasing power parity. The OECD is an official United Nations observer. In April 1948, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dessel
Dessel () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the town of Dessel proper. In 2021, Dessel had a total population of 9,659 inhabitants. The total area is 27.03 km². Nuclear industries Dessel hosts several nuclear facilities: * Belgoprocess, ex Eurochemic reprocessing plant (OECD), now in charge of the operational waste management for Ondraf/Niras. * BelgoNucléaire, an old MOX factory, presently closed and to be decommissioned in the future. * Franco-Belge de Fabrication du Combustible (FBFC) making nuclear fuel assemblies; * The Dessel site was selected in June 2006 by the Belgian government to construct the first shallow land disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste in Belgium. The decision was taken after consultation of the local authorities and the population in the frame of the Stola consultation group. Sport The town has two football clubs: * K.F.C. Witgoor Sport, which plays in the Belgian Fourth Di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euratom Treaty
The Euratom Treaty, officially the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, established the European Atomic Energy Community. It was signed on 25 March 1957 at the same time as the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC Treaty). The Euratom Treaty is less well known because of the lower profile of the organisation that it founded. The EEC has evolved into what is now the European Union, but Euratom has remained much the same as it was in 1957 although it is governed by the institutions of the European Union. It was established with its own independent institutions, but the 1967 Merger Treaty merged the institutions of Euratom and the European Coal and Steel Community with those of the EEC. The Euratom treaty has seen very little amendment because of later sensitivity surrounding nuclear power in European public opinion. That has caused some to argue that it has become too outdated, particularly in the areas of democratic oversight. It was not i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
