The Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE reports that Belgium prolongs the operation time of its nuclear power plant by 10 years. Six years ago Belgium decided to start shutting down nuclear power plants starting from 2015. Now the shutdown is to start in 2025.

Minister of Energy Paul Magnette says the prolonging was accepted in order to secure electricity supply and competitiveness of businesses as well as to decrease CO2 emissions.

Energy companies operating the nuclear power plants are paying EUR 215-245 million during the years 2010-2014 for the prolonging. The payments depend on the price of electricity and production costs.

Belgium has seven nuclear reactors producing electricity.