http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/20...europe.php

Quote:PARIS, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Belgian energy company Electrabel said its Doel 4 nuclear reactor would stay offline at least until the end of this year after major damage to its turbine, with the cause confirmed as sabotage. . .

The shutdown of Doel 4′s nearly 1 gigawatt (GW) of electricity generating capacity as well as closures of two other reactors (Doel 3 and Tihange 2) for months because of cracks in steel reactor casings adds up to just over 3 GW of Belgian nuclear capacity that is offline, more than half of the total. . .

Energy experts have raised the spectre of possible blackouts this winter and say Belgium will have to boost interconnection capacity with neighbouring countries to prevent power shortages

~more~

Interesting. Anti-nuclear people or something else?

(08-18-2014 09:30 AM)mlb Wrote:  Interesting. Anti-nuclear people or something else?

I'm thinking some nut job eco-terrorist.

Pretty shocking that such a person could gain access and have time and means
to do so much damage.

(08-18-2014 09:42 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  Pretty shocking that such a person could gain access and have time and means
to do so much damage.

It would have to be an employee of the utility according to the article. That is why I'm wondering if it could be something else.

(08-18-2014 09:39 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(08-18-2014 09:30 AM)mlb Wrote:  Interesting. Anti-nuclear people or something else?

I'm thinking some nut job eco-terrorist.

Actually this raises greenhouse gases as the shortfall will be made up by coal, oil and natural gas fired power generation.

(08-18-2014 09:53 AM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  

(08-18-2014 09:39 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(08-18-2014 09:30 AM)mlb Wrote:  Interesting. Anti-nuclear people or something else?

I'm thinking some nut job eco-terrorist.

Actually this raises greenhouse gases as the shortfall will be made up by coal, oil and natural gas fired power generation.

Would have been interesting if this sabotage would have led to some accident that made things a whole lot worse for the environment. This particular nutjob wasn't the sharptest tool in the shed.

(08-18-2014 09:39 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(08-18-2014 09:30 AM)mlb Wrote:  Interesting. Anti-nuclear people or something else?

I'm thinking some nut job eco-terrorist.

Would surprise me if that is the case. Jeopardizing the integrity of a nuclear reactor could lead to ecological disaster. They would be defeating their own cause.

Eco-terrorists doing stupid things never comes as a surprise, but something like this would require a fair level of intelligence.