WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2801/97 by Hiltrud BREYER to the Commission. Temelin nuclear power station in the Czech Republic
Date: 1997-09-01
Institutions: BREYER, European Parliament
Subjects: Czechia, approval, nuclear accident, nuclear power station, nuclear reactor, nuclear safety













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91997E2801

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2801/97 by Hiltrud BREYER to the Commission. Temelin nuclear power station in the Czech Republic  


Official Journal C 082 , 17/03/1998 P. 0142 





WRITTEN QUESTION P-2801/97 by Hiltrud Breyer (V) to the Commission (1 September 1997)Subject: Temelin nuclear power station in the Czech RepublicIn 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 Commission 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 Commission assign to the above circumstances in relation to the Czech Republic's anticipated accession to the EU?3. Is the Commission 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 given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission (24 September 1997)1. The Community does not finance any of the modifications being carried out at present in the Temelin nuclear power plant (NPP) and therefore has no information about details of work being performed in this plant. Moreover and more in general, it would like to indicate that through the Phare programme it provides support to the Czech nuclear safety authority, the State office for nuclear safety (SONS). This support includes general methodology transfer and, in the case of the Temelin NPP, a contract is under preparation in order to support the SONS during the licensing process.2. The Commission will continue the support to SONS, in order to ensure that an independent and competent body is responsible for the licensing of the plant.3. The Commission is aware of the vote of the Austrian parliament. In this connection, it refers to the relevant part of the Commission's opinion on the Czech Republic of 16 July 1997 ((COM(97) 2009. )).