Belgian news in brief, 21 November 2005

Belgian nuclear fuel plant to close

Belgian firm Belgonucleaire will shut down its factory in Dessel next year. The company produces MOX, a type of fuel used in nuclear power plants. However, many European nuclear power plants no longer use MOX-fuel for nuclear fission. Many countries have also started to produce their own MOX. Belgonucleaire has orders for another 5 months. Of the 261 staff, 248 are highly qualified engineers and technicians.

Call to crackdown on workplace discrimination

Socialist SP.A chairman Johan Vande Lanotte has urged for a system to be set up to investigate whether workers aged 50 or more, low-educated workers or immigrants are being systematically refused jobs. “An unemployed person who refuses a fitting job risks being punished. But nothing is arranged for employers,” he said. Vande Lanotte said it is time that employers took up their responsibility. He said discriminatory employers could be reported to and investigated by existing federal and Flemish employment agencies.

Five hurt in gas explosion

Five people were injured in a gas explosion during excavation work in the Rue de Mons in Jumet on Monday. Three workers were injured and two residents of a nearby house were hurt. Two of the workers were seriously injured. A house in the vicinity of the scene was badly damaged. The direct vicinity was evacuated. The cause of the blast is not yet known.

Second Robbie Williams concert

Robbie Williams will give a second concert in Belgium next year on 14 June. The decision was taken after tickets for the initially-planned one-off concert in Brussels sold out within hours on Saturday. Some 60,000 tickets for the 13 June concert at the King Boudewijn Stadium were sold between 9am and early afternoon. Some tickets for the first concert are now being sold on websites for highly inflated prices.

Subject: Belgian news