WRITTEN QUESTION P-2839/97 by Hiltrud Breyer (V) to the Council (1 September 1997)

Subject: Temelin nuclear power station in the Czech Republic

In Temelin, in the Czech Republic near the Austrian border, two pressurized-water nuclear reactors (type-VVER-1000) are currently under construction. Their completion has been plagued by enormous technical, financial, organizational and legal problems. The original commissioning deadline of 1992 has been officially postponed several times and has now been put forward to 1999/2000. The original overall construction cost of Kc 26 billion is now calculated as at least Kc 85 billion (about DM 5 billion). The cost overruns are primarily attributable to the retrospective decision to commission the US firm Westinghouse to install a control and fuel-rod system which, owing to the absence of Russian design blueprints and numerous demonstrable compatibility and quality deficiencies, gives cause for concern that safety standards might well be reduced rather than improved.

1. How does the Council assess the circumstances that, despite fundamental retroactive design changes to the Temelin nuclear power station and the resultant emergence of a globally untested VVER-1000 mixed reactor prototype in immediate proximity to the EU's borders, no new approval procedure, no environmental impact assessment, no least-cost studies, no probabilistic safety analysis and no public participation process were carried out?

2. What importance does the Council assign to the above circumstances in relation to the Czech Republic's anticipated accession to the EU?

3. Is the Council aware of the unanimous decisions adopted by the Austrian Parliament on 9 July 1997 and urging, in connection with the forthcoming EU accession negotiations with Central and Eastern Europe in particular, the devising of new approaches to opting out of nuclear energy and the establishment of EU financing instruments to that end, and how does it assess that initiative in general and in relation to the Temelin nuclear power plant and the Czech Republic in particular?

Answer (4 December 1997)

The Council is aware of the problems to which the Honourable Member refers. In the context of the European Union's privileged relations with the associated countries of Central dn Eastern Europe, and hence with the Czech Republic, the Council has on several occasions drawn the attention of the Czech authorities to these questions. Thus, while noting the undertakings given by the Czech authorities to improve nuclear safety and the provision of information on nuclear installations in their country, the Council has stated that it attaches the greatest importance, also with accession in prospect, to a high level of nuclear plant safety and to close cooperation to achieve that objective.

As for the Czech Republic's impending accession in relation to nuclear energy, the Council would point out that it is of the utmost importance that the candidate countries - and therefore the Czech Republic - adopt as swiftly as possible the whole of the Union's acquis, and that they lose no time in honouring the undertakings they have given regarding the modernization and/or shutting down of nuclear power stations, adn waste management policy.

Moreover, it is recognised that one of the objectives of adhesion is to ensure that applicant states accept internationally recognised principles of nuclear safety as laid down by the International Nuclear Safety Convention and to accede to and ratify this Convention.