EU agrees on nuclear reactor stress tests
Source: Agencies |
May 26, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
EUROPEAN nuclear watchdogs have agreed details of new safety checks on the region's 143 reactors and said a group would be set up to deal with the risks of a nuclear crisis arising from a terrorist attack.
By June 1, regulators will have to start checking power plants' resilience to earthquakes and tsunamis to avert any crisis like that at Japan's stricken Fukushima plant, the European Commission said yesterday.
The tests, which follow two months of dispute, will also address the ability of reactors to withstand more common threats such as forest fires, transport accidents and the loss of electrical power supplies.
"We've come up with very comprehensive testing criteria," EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said. "At the European-level, we'll be inspecting the inspectors," he said. "Human error has played a role in the Fukushima accident, so therefore we felt human error and human action had to be part of the stress test."
Officials say that in Europe the most significant threat to reactors comes from terrorism, but Oettinger said that was best handled by national security agencies. "I respect that some member states say they don't want to show their cards - that could even abet terrorism," Oettinger said.
He now also plans to prod Europe's neighbors, Russia, Ukraine and Switzerland, to follow suit. Europe's divisions over nuclear power have deepened since the Fukushima accident, with Britain and France remaining steadfast supporters, Italy shelving plans to build new plants and Germany taking steps toward a phase-out.
Germany's suspension of its oldest seven plants has increased demand for coal, prompted warnings of winter blackouts, and analysts predict an increase in long-term European gas demand.
Austria, a vocal opponent which banned new plants in 1974, said all its main demands had been met. "This really was a tough fight," Austrian Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich said. "I welcome that a nuclear safety system is being set up for the first time at the European level. The nuclear lobby resisted it, of course."
While the stress tests will have no legal teeth, they will be reviewed by other national regulators and the details will be made public. That means any failing plant will come under more intense pressure from the anti-nuclear lobby.
By June 1, regulators will have to start checking power plants' resilience to earthquakes and tsunamis to avert any crisis like that at Japan's stricken Fukushima plant, the European Commission said yesterday.
The tests, which follow two months of dispute, will also address the ability of reactors to withstand more common threats such as forest fires, transport accidents and the loss of electrical power supplies.
"We've come up with very comprehensive testing criteria," EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said. "At the European-level, we'll be inspecting the inspectors," he said. "Human error has played a role in the Fukushima accident, so therefore we felt human error and human action had to be part of the stress test."
Officials say that in Europe the most significant threat to reactors comes from terrorism, but Oettinger said that was best handled by national security agencies. "I respect that some member states say they don't want to show their cards - that could even abet terrorism," Oettinger said.
He now also plans to prod Europe's neighbors, Russia, Ukraine and Switzerland, to follow suit. Europe's divisions over nuclear power have deepened since the Fukushima accident, with Britain and France remaining steadfast supporters, Italy shelving plans to build new plants and Germany taking steps toward a phase-out.
Germany's suspension of its oldest seven plants has increased demand for coal, prompted warnings of winter blackouts, and analysts predict an increase in long-term European gas demand.
Austria, a vocal opponent which banned new plants in 1974, said all its main demands had been met. "This really was a tough fight," Austrian Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich said. "I welcome that a nuclear safety system is being set up for the first time at the European level. The nuclear lobby resisted it, of course."
While the stress tests will have no legal teeth, they will be reviewed by other national regulators and the details will be made public. That means any failing plant will come under more intense pressure from the anti-nuclear lobby.
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