Belgian nuclear reactor to return to full capacity on Tuesday

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian utility group Electrabel, part of GDF Suez, said its nuclear reactor Tihange 3 should return to full capacity later on Tuesday, after a fire at a transformer outside the power station caused it to shut down on Sunday. "The reactor was put back onto the grid at about 0330 this morning, earlier than expected, and should be back at full capacity later in the evening," a spokeswoman for Electrabel told Reuters. Electrabel operates seven nuclear reactors: four in Doel near the northern city of Antwerp and three in Tihange with a total capacity of almost 6,000 megawatts, covering about half of Belgium's electricity demand. However, the ageing reactor network is facing serious problems. With two of the four reactors at Doel offline and another reactor at Tihange already out of action, energy experts have raised the spectre of possible blackouts this winter. (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)