WRITTEN QUESTION E-3378/01

by Nuala Ahern (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(7 December 2001)

Subject: Safety at nuclear reprocessing plants

On 2 August 1996, in accordance with its obligations under Article 37 of the Euratom Treaty, the United Kingdom supplied the European Commission with data relating to the disposal of radioactive waste from the Sellafield MOX plant. On 25 February 1997, the Commission delivered its Opinion, which included the following:

the distance between the plant and the nearest point on the territory of another Member State, Ireland, is 184 km; in the event of unplanned discharges of radioactive waste which may follow an accident on the scale considered in the general data, the doses likely to be received by the population in other Member States would not be significant from the health point of view.

In conclusion, the Commission said that it was of the view that the implementation of the plan for the disposal of radioactive wastes arising from the operation of the BNFL Sellafield mixed oxide fuel plant, both in normal operation and in the event of an accident of the type and magnitude considered in the general data, would be unlikely to result in radioactive contamination, significant from the point of view of health, of the water, soil or airspace of another Member State.

In the light of new information that has arisen since 11 September 2001 concerning the intentions of terrorists to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of nuclear facilities and attack them, will the Commission now review, as a matter of urgency, the security of Sellafield, the reliability of the UK assurances and its own conclusions as to the plant's prospective threats to neighbouring Member States?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(15 March 2002)

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its reply to oral question H-0929/01 by M. De Rossa during question time at Parliament's December 2001 part-session(1). In particular it would emphasise that, subsequent to its opinion on the Article 37 submission on the Sellafield MOX Plant, actual authorisation for operation of the plant and for the safety and security of the plant and other installations on the Sellafield site is a national competence.

The Commission would also refer the Honourable Member to its reply to written question E-3277/01 by Hiltrud Breyer(2) concerning possible terrorist attacks on nuclear plants. This points out that nuclear sector is one of the industrial sectors with the highest levels of safety and security.

As pointed out in the first above-mentioned reply, the Commission is nevertheless examining the compliance of the procedure for granting the authorisation for the Sellafield MOX Plant with all provisions of the Basic Safety Standards Directive, Council Directive 96/29/Euratom of 13 May 1996 laying down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiation(3) and with Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment(4) as modified by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997(5).

(1) Written reply, 11.12.2001.

(2) See page 32.

(3) OJ L 159, 29.6.1996.

(4) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.

(5) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.