WRITTEN QUESTION E-3470/01

by Daniela Raschhofer (NI) to the Commission

(4 January 2002)

Subject: Uniform safety standards for nuclear power plants

The Commission points out time and time again that, in the field of nuclear safety, the European Union has no powers to adopt Union-wide standards. However, the Commission is very much entitled, and duty-bound, to submit proposals on problems with European relevance in order, in so doing, to encourage thought to be given to them in discussion processes.

With regard to nuclear safety, accordingly, the Council in its resolution of 18 June 1992(1):

Requests the Member States to continue with an active contribution from the Commission to ensure greater concerted effort between the national safety authorities in the Community on safety criteria and requirements and on the incorporation of the conclusions reached into the practice followed in the Member States, in order to arrive at a system of safety criteria and requirements recognised throughout the Community.

In connection with this call on the Commission to show initiative in this field:

1. Does the Commission propose to act on the Council's call? If so, what changes are already being planned? When does the Commission intend to make those changes? If not, what are the Commission's grounds for such a decision despite the fact that that is what the Council called for in its resolution of 18 June 1992?

2. How does the Commission propose to make its contribution in this field in future?

3. Are tangible initiatives and groundwork in this connection already being planned?

4. Are the conclusions reached being collated and assessed by the Commission? If so, what are the Commission's own conclusions from them? If not, what grounds does the Commission have for its decision despite the fact that the Council resolution of 18 June 1992 refers to an active contribution from the Commission?

(1) OJ C 172, 8.7.1992, p. 2.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(25 February 2002)

From the formulation of her written question, the Commission deduces that the Honourable Member is referring not to security, but to nuclear safety.

For the most part, the safety of nuclear power plants is the responsibility of nuclear operators under the supervision of their national authorities. This area is not one in fact which is explicitly covered by the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community. As the nuclear industry developed, however, convergence at Community level began to appear necessary to support the Member States in their efforts to harmonise safety practices. Thus, a Council Resolution of 22 July 1975 on the technological problems of nuclear safety acknowledged that it was up to the Commission to act as a catalyser for initiatives taken internationally in the area of nuclear safety.

With this Resolution in mind, the Commission set up several groups of experts dealing with nuclear safety questions. These groups, whose members include representatives of the safety authorities of the Member States, have actively contributed to harmonising practices in the area of nuclear safety. Following the Council Resolution of 18 June 1992, participation in these expert groups was extended to representatives of the central and eastern European countries and of the republics of the former Soviet Union.

Apart from this harmonisation work, in accordance with the conclusions of the Cologne European Council, the Commission has also taken an active part, with the Council, in drawing up a methodology intended to evaluate the safety of nuclear power plants in the accession countries. This methodology made possible a European outlook on European safety. The evaluation performed on the basis of this methodology in the first half of 2001 led to recommendations being sent to the candidate countries. When these have been implemented, they will permit the nuclear power plants of these countries to reach a high level of nuclear safety, equivalent to that of the Member States. The carrying out of these recommendations has been the subject of monitoring, in which the Commission has participated, since the beginning of January 2002.

It must also be pointed out that the Commission played a mediating role in order to facilitate dialogue between the Czech and Austrian authorities over the Temelin nuclear power plant, which led to an agreement on 29 November 2001.

The work pursued under the auspices of the Commission to harmonise safety practices has made a very significant contribution, not only to the quality of the safety of the Union's nuclear power plants, but also to the emergence of a European outlook approved by the Member States.

Finally, it must be pointed out that, in the conclusions of the Laeken Summit, the European Council undertook to maintain a high level of nuclear safety in the Union. In particular, it stressed the need to monitor the security and the safety of nuclear power plants. The Commission intends to participate actively in this process inside the Union, in the same way that it participates in the evaluation of the safety of nuclear power plants in the candidate countries.