Debate: Safety of the nuclear power plant in Ostrovets
Date: THURSDAY, 11 FEBRUARY 2021
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

Today’s debate is very timely. Just yesterday, the team of nuclear safety experts from the Commission and from the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) has concluded a visit on the site of the power plant and this visit is a key part of the ongoing peer review process. The Commission, together with ENSREG, has worked swiftly to set up the peer review team and negotiate their schedule for conducting the review before the planned commercial start of the nuclear power plant, including a plant visit. The first phase of the peer review, initially foreseen for December 2020, has begun at the end of January. After the technical test review carried out remotely on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, a team of seven ENSREG and Commission experts carried out the first phase mission to verify the physical implementation of measures at the Ostrovets plant. The team consists of senior experts from different Member States, Ukraine and the Commission. The team has a strong expertise in the key areas of peer review and is fully independent in making its conclusions on the adequate implementation of safety recommendations by the Ostrovets nuclear power plant operator and Belarusian authorities. The experts will now complete the preliminary report; this report will be then submitted to the plenary meeting of ENSREG at the beginning of March for endorsement. Once approved, the report will be published. This process is set to guarantee a credible, independent and robust technical review of the situation. Therefore, at this point in time, pending the completion of ENSREG review procedures, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on the ongoing independent work by the senior nuclear safety experts and prejudge the findings in the report. I believe that all sides should refrain from commenting on the results of the mission at this stage. As I said, ENSREG will publish its preliminary report for full transparency. Let me stress one thing: this preliminary report will be very important, but in any case it will not be for us the end of our involvement and our commitment with the full safety of the plant. ENSREG and the Commission will continue to follow closely the implementation of the remaining recommendations and, once pandemic conditions allow, the full peer review team will to meet in Belarus to assess the remaining recommendations. At that time, they will prepare a final report for endorsement by ENSREG and subsequent publication. This brings me to the second question raised by Parliament. The Commission’s clear position is that all ENSREG safety recommendations should be addressed by Belarus without delay. For this reason, I wrote to the Prime Minister of Belarus on 6 November 2020 requesting that the Belarusian Government makes sure that all the steps in the commissioning process are taken in full respect of the highest safety standards and that the stress test recommendations deemed of high priority by ENSREG are implemented as a minimum before commercial operations start. Let me be clear, in line with international law, the decision on whether to grant the license for commercial operations to the Ostrovets plant lies with the Belarusian authorities and the ultimate responsibility for the safety of the plant remains that of the operator under the supervision of the National Nuclear Regulator. The Commission is using all its diplomatic and policy means to ensure a constructive cooperation from Belarus and ask that any decision on commercialisation is taken based on current data for the highest level of safety. In the current difficult political situation the technical cooperation with Belarus on the completion of the peer review exercise represents the last remaining channel for maintaining accurate, up—to—date knowledge of the safety situation in Ostrovets. As I said, our commitment will not stop after the first peer review mission. In addition to cooperation on the completion of the ENSREG peer review, the Commission is seeking to open new channels with Belarus for maintaining contacts in the nuclear safety area through encouraging rapid involvement of Belarus in the EU’s accident notification system and its formal participation in the European Radiological Data Exchange Platform. In agreement with Commissioner Urpilainen, we are also ready to offer technical support to the Belarusian nuclear safety authorities under the future European instrument for international nuclear safety cooperation, building on the projects carried out under the existing instrument for nuclear safety cooperation. But while we are willing to step up cooperation, the Commission remains vigilant and stands ready to apply increased pressure should it see that the high priority recommendations have not been satisfactorily implemented. Well, these are not all the elements that I wanted to set up in reply to your questions. But because of time limits and given this evolving situation I want to offer my own and ENSREG’s readiness to return to the Parliament, either in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) or in plenary, to provide the honourable Members with an update when the technical outcome of the peer review mission will be available and on other matters related to the safety of Ostrovets and the synchronisation process of the Baltic States.