On the evening of February 1, Belgium finally shut down its most controversial nuclear reactor "Tihange 2" near Liège after 40 years of operation.

The nuclear power plant, which is located approx. 60 km from Aachen (NRW), has been criticized for years due to safety risks such as thousands of small cracks in the reactor pressure vessels and incidents, and has caused great unrest among the Belgian and German population.

The decision to finally shut down the problem reactor is also a success of the many initiatives, associations, signature campaigns and committed citizens who have campaigned massively in recent years for the reactor to be shut down!

Unfortunately, Belgium is also continuing to rely on nuclear power and the other two reactors in Tihange may remain in operation for another 10 years. So there is still a lot to do!

On a political level, I am therefore committed to the rapid expansion of renewable energies, which represent an infinitely sustainable source of energy. And on a civil society level, I would like to encourage you all to continue to get involved. It is success stories like these that show that our will as citizens does not go unheard!