With this, all four of the plant’s reactors have been stopped over the past months. 

, the EDF utility company had confirmed that “signs” of corrosion have been found at the Cattenom nuclear power plant, with analyses ongoing. Reactor n°3 was shut down in March for inspections after corrosion was reported at other power plants in France dating from the same era.

“Unit n°1 is shut down for refuelling and almost 12,000 maintenance activities,” Cattenom shares in a post , while “units n°3 and n°4 are still undergoing expert assessments on parts of the piping of auxiliary circuits to the main primary circuit.”

Luxembourg’s government had in the past already criticised the management of the power plant and demanded checks on all reactors as soon as possible. The energy ministry in May had confirmed that a meeting between authorities and a would convene to push for more thorough checks on all reactors. Delano contacted the energy ministry but did not receive an answer at the time of publishing. 

Luxembourg reacts to news

The of reactor n°2 did not go unnoticed during the weekend. Meris Sehovic, president of the déi Gréng party, in a tweet commented on the news: “After 3 reactors in #Cattenom had not been on the network for some time due to maintenance, reactor 2 was shut down during the night due to problems. Thus, #Cattenom is currently completely off the grid. Nuclear power is neither reliable nor safe!”

The energy and environment ministries have yet to comment on the situation. The government had, however, in the past demanded that the lifespan of the plant----should be reviewed in light of the corrosion.