WRITTEN QUESTION E-0989/02 by Paul Rübig (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Radiation assessment.
Date: 2002-04-12
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European standard, fuel reprocessing, ionising radiation, metrology, nuclear fuel, nuclear power station, public health, radioactivity

C 277 E/122

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

14.11.2002

All Member States are at present updating their data by applying the new national and regional accounts
system ESA 95. In July 2001 the Portuguese national statistical office published the first estimates in this
new economic accounts series and at the same time sent the data to the Statistical Office of the European
Community (Eurostat).

Methodological differences between the two systems largely explain the change in the relative position of
the per capita GDP of the Madeira Autonomous Region. The new system is more comprehensive and
obviously more up to date than the old one, particularly where the service sector is concerned.
Nonetheless the data that has just been published is restricted to the years 1995 et seq and is subject to
correction. The most significant changes from the previously published estimates can be found in the
tourism, financial services (free zone) and property sectors.

(1) COM(2002) 46 final.
(2) OJ L 310, 30.11.1996.
(3) COM(2001) 24 final.

(2002/C 277 E/137)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0989/02

by Paul Rübig (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 April 2002)

Subject: Radiation assessment

Can the Commission say on the basis of what specific legal standards and technical guidelines radiation
from nuclear power stations and nuclear reprocessing plants is assessed in the European Union?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(21 May 2002)

The relevant Euratom provisions governing the protection of the health of the population against the
dangers arising from ionizing radiations are contained in Title II, Chapter 3, Euratom Treaty. Among these
provisions, the following are relevant for the assessment of the exposures to ionizing radiation resulting
from practices,
including those carried out by nuclear power plants/reprocessing plants in
particular.

in general,

Article 35 Euratom Treaty states that ‘each Member State shall establish the facilities necessary to carry out
continuous monitoring of the level of radioactivity in the air, water and soil and to ensure compliance
with the basic standards’.

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 (1),
contains several provisions related to the assessment of the effects of the practices on the population.

Its Title V, concerning the estimation of the effective dose, which refer to the values and relationships
given in Annex II of the Directive (for external radiation) and the dose coefficients given in its Annex III
(for internal exposure), to be used for the estimation of effective and equivalent doses.

Its Title VIII deals with the radiation protection of the population in normal circumstances. Under its
Article 45, Member States are obliged, in particular, to ensure that dose estimates are made as realistic as
possible for the population as a whole and for reference groups of the population; to decide on the
frequency of such assessments, and to ensure that the estimates of the population doses include the
assessment of the doses due to external radiation and the assessment of the intake of radionuclides. Under
its Article 47, each Member State shall require that the undertakings carry out, in particular, the acceptance
into service of equipment and procedures for measuring and assessing exposure and radioactive
contamination of the environment and the population.

(1) OJ L 159, 29.6.1996.