WRITTEN QUESTION E-3170/02

by Marie Isler Béguin (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(6 November 2002)

Subject: EU control and oversight of nuclear loads travelling over Community territory

Since various EU Member States still engage in nuclear production at a number of centres and reprocessing plants, transportation of uranium and radioactive waste still goes on on EU territory, in a number of Member States. Industrial contracts concluded with third countries such as Japan and Russia have the same effect.

The extremely hazardous nature of these products has always posed a permanent and terrifying threat of traffic accidents or incidents arising from defective equipment, affecting areas within a very wide circumference of the routes taken by the loads. Law-abiding demonstrations by citizens living near some of these routes, or by anti-nuclear activists, are met with police repression and expulsion, the only response known to the authorities in some Member States to this vigilance on the part of their citizens.

The threat of a new dimension of hyperterrorism that was born on 11 September in the United States now presents a new danger, according to security and nuclear experts, that regular transportation of nuclear materials outside the well guarded production, processing and storage areas could become a target for attacks or hijackings by extremist organisations.

Does the Commission have detailed, immediately accessible information as to the timetables and routes of these highly sensitive and hazardous loads?

Is the relevant information sent to the Commission in an absolutely transparent and reliable way by the Member States where the convoys originate or through which they pass?

What is the Commission's margin of assessment and intervention as regards nuclear transport vehicles' timetables and routes, which are generated by an industry the management of which is a national prerogative, but whose potential for danger covers the whole area of the Community and beyond?

Can the Commission guarantee the safety of these loads against all forms of attack or accident, as well as providing all the necessary forms of medical and financial arrangements, mechanisms and interventions in the event of a possible disaster within the area of the enlarged Community?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(17 December 2002)

The Commission is not responsible for operations relating to the transportation of radioactive materials. This responsibility rests with the Member States, which must ensure that national and international legislation on the transportation of radioactive materials is respected. The Member States, through their competent authorities, are required to take appropriate measures to ensure the safe, secure transport of radioactive materials.

However, neither the Member States nor the companies which transport radioactive materials are obliged under Community legislation to provide the Commission with the timetables and routes for convoys of nuclear fuel cycle or any other radioactive materials.

The Member States must ensure maximum safety/security for convoys of radioactive materials and any other forms of nuclear or non-nuclear activities against attacks which are designed to disrupt them. By cooperating with the Member States in the Standing Working Group on the safe transport of radioactive material(1), the Commission is contributing to developing and improving legislation and the measures needed to reduce the potential impact of the effects of any accidents which might occur during the transportation of radioactive materials.

(1) COM(98) 155 final.