WRITTEN QUESTION P-3528/00

by W. G. van Velzen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(8 November 2000)

Subject: Czech nuclear power station at Temelin

A serious disagreement has recently arisen between Austria and the Czech Republic on the start-up of the Czech nuclear power station at Temelin.

1. What legal possibilities does the Commission have, pursuant to the Treaty of Amsterdam, to compel the Czech Government to carry out a cross-border environmental impact assessment, with a view to the Czech Republic's forthcoming accession to the European Union?

2. Does the Commission have any legal instruments to compel the Czech Government to carry out a safety check before Temelin actually comes into operation? If not, and if it has not been able to resolve this point satisfactorily in the accession negotiations with the Czech Republic, what diplomatic representations has the Commission made to the two governments, and with what result?

3. The Austrian Government has recommended that the EU adopt EU standards in the field of the safe use of nuclear energy at an early date. Is the Commission able to comply with this recommendation at short notice; if so, how will these standards be developed and who will be involved in this process?

4. Does the Commission consider that public acceptance of nuclear energy could be increased if EU safety standards existed, and if there were an EU policy on the safe processing and storage of nuclear waste?

5. In the light of the current oil crisis, and based on the notion of an energy diversification policy which would also embrace the safe use nuclear energy, is the Commission prepared to make the greatest possible efforts to put the proposals in point 4 above into practice as quickly as possible? What measures does the Commission propose taking to this end?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(11 January 2001)

The Commission has no legal means to compel the Czech government to carry out a cross-border environmental impact assessment (EIA) with regard to the Temelin nuclear power plant (NPP). This issue has been the subject of bilateral contacts of Austria and Germany with the Czech Republic. On 16 November 2000, a public environmental impact assessment hearing was held in the Czech town of Tyn, with the participation of interested foreign parties. On 1 December 2000, a similar hearing, however outside the scope of current Czech law, on a building of the Temelin NPP will be held in Linz (Austria). On the basis of current Czech EIA legislation, the Czech authorities are already submitting 78 design changes at the Temelin NPP to an EIA and have provided documentation to the German and Austrian governments.

The Czech authorities are expected to adopt new EIA legislation compatible with the acquis as a short-term priority under the 1999 Accession Partnership. A draft law is currently being debated in Parliament, with a view to adoption by the end of 2000 and entry into force in mid-2001. This legislation will also foresee cross-border EIA procedures. A motion for the Czech Republic to adhere to the United Nations (UN) Espoo Convention is also underway in the Czech Parliament. In line with basic legal principles, this new legislation will not apply retroactively to the Temelin NPP construction procedure.

However, on 12 December at a bilateral meeting in Melk between the Austrian Chancellor Schüssel and the Czech Prime Minister Zeman in which the Commission provided its good services, the Czech authorities agreed to extend, on a voluntary basis, the ongoing environmental impact assessment of 78 design changes into a comprehensive and full-scope environmental impact assessment of the whole plant taking fully into account the expertise that was done up to now.

Nuclear safety is the responsibility of the operator of the Temelin NPP acting under the supervision and licensing authority of the Czech national nuclear safety regulatory body (SUJB). This body has submitted the power plant to an orderly licensing procedure. The Commission therefore does not see any basis to call on the Czech Republic to carry out additional safety checks. For the purpose of the accession negotiations, the Commission is currently participating in the efforts of the Council to draw up the parameters of a high level of nuclear safety. This exercise will result in the evaluation of the situation and perspective in the candidate countries. The issue of nuclear safety is part of the regular dialogue of the Commission with the Czech Republic.

Furthermore, in the above mentioned meeting of 12 December in Melk it was agreed that a trialogue would be conducted and that an expert mission with trilateral participation would be dispatched by the Commission to Vienna and Prague to facilitate the dialogue between the government of Austria and the Czech Republic on the issue of nuclear safety and to find solutions to identified problems.

As the Euratom Treaty does not offer a specific legal basis for the establishment of common Community standards on nuclear installation safety, Member States have successfully developed national regulations ensuring a high level of nuclear safety within their respective jurisdictions over the past three decades. Since 1975, work conducted under the auspices of the Commission has resulted in a very well developed Community perspective on nuclear safety. Although there are common principles, due to the variety of regulatory approaches and different technological developments

in Member States, it is not at all certain that Community legislation would provide added value compared with the current situation. A precipitous approach would put at risk an agreement on the lowest common denominator of design and operational safety. The goal of regulatory efforts needs to remain the assurance of a high level of nuclear safety within each State. Within the enlargement process, the objective of the Commission is to ensure that candidate countries achieve a high level of nuclear safety.

The public acceptance of nuclear energy is determined by a variety of factors other than the existence of common Community standards. Progress on the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and radioactive waste management is undoubtedly a key element in this respect.

The need for a high level of nuclear safety is independent of the level of oil prices and the extent of energy diversification. Safety is a key element of nuclear energy production whatever its scope within the applied energy mix.