WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2494/97 by Alex SMITH to the Commission. Need for review of nuclear reprocessing within the European Union
Date: 1997-07-09
Institutions: European Parliament, SMITH ALEX
Subjects: EU control, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, marine pollution, pollution control, radioactive pollution, radioactive waste, waste management













EUR-Lex - 91997E2494 - EN






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91997E2494

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2494/97 by Alex SMITH to the Commission. Need for review of nuclear reprocessing within the European Union  


Official Journal C 060 , 25/02/1998 P. 0135 





WRITTEN QUESTION P-2494/97 by Alex Smith (PSE) to the Commission (9 July 1997)Subject: Need for review of nuclear reprocessing within the European UnionIn the light of the fact that in June alone there were:- new concerns raised over the discovery of hot radioactive particles on the beaches close to the Dounreay nuclear reprocessing plant in Scotland;- fresh alarms raised by the discovery of very high levels of technetium-99 in lobsters in the Irish Sea, arising from radioactive discharges from the Sellafied nuclear reprocessing plant;- intense environmental worries, admitted by the French Government, following the publication by Greenpeace of an independent analysis of radioactive discharges from the La Hague nuclear reprocessing plant,will the Commission instigate an immediate safety review of nuclear reprocessing within the European Union?Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (1 August 1997)As regards Sellafield and Cap de la Hague the Honourable Member is asked to refer to the Commission's replies to written question E-443/97 by Mrs Pollack ((OJ C 217, 17.7.1997. )), written question P-2225/97 by Mrs McKenna ((See page 112. )) and written question P-2323/97 by Mrs Plooij-van Gorsel ((OJ C 45, 10.2.1998, p. 171. )).Concerning Dounreay and according to the information available to the Commission, contamination has been discovered on-site around a shaft used in the past for the disposal of solid active wastes and this contamination may have resulted from an explosion in the shaft in 1977. Moreover, radioactive particles have been identified off-site, mainly on the site foreshore, an area to which the public does not have ready access, although one particle was found on a public beach in 1984 and another in 1997. It is not known whether the finding of particles off-site is related to the explosion in 1977. However, the national authorities are supervising an enquiry into the circumstances of the contamination around the shaft and off-site. Beaches in the area are subject to regular monitoring and, taking into account the rarity of such particles and the effectively limited access, the risk to the public of even coming into contact with a particle is small.Moreover, Article 35 of the Euratom Treaty provides for Commission access to environmental monitoring facilities to verify their operation and efficiency. A visit to Dounreay in 1993 confirmed that the facilities in question were satisfactory.The events to which the Honourable Member refers were unrelated and the Member States responsible for the various installations indicated are responding to the situation in each case. The Commission has no evidence of any breach of Community legislation. It does not, therefore, propose to instigate a safety review of nuclear reprocessing.