Debate: Safety of the nuclear power plant in Ostrovets
Date: THURSDAY, 11 FEBRUARY 2021
Speaker: Cristian-Silviu Buşoi
Country: Poland
Language: EN

The EU Peer Review, carried out by the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG), published its report in July 2018 and called on the Belarusian authorities to develop a national action plan in order to ensure the timely implementation of all safety recommendations identified in the Peer Review report. The further peer review process is ongoing and ENSREG will complete and publish its findings in the coming months.  We would like to emphasise that our preliminary report should be transmitted to Belarus before March when the commercial start of the plant is scheduled by the Belarusian authorities. At the same time, we express our dissatisfaction with the hasty commercial start of the plant. The Ostrovets nuclear power plant should not start its operation until it has been demonstrated that it fully complies with the highest international environmental and nuclear safety standards. It is imperative that nuclear safety standards are given the highest priority, not only during the planning and construction, but also during the operation of the plant, and must be constantly overseen by an independent regulator.  To that end, we call on the Commission and ENSREG to continue with a transparent and attentive peer review of the Ostrovets plant. We should insist on the implementation of all safety recommendations and we also need to ensure the effective monitoring of the implementation process, including regular visits by the EU peer review team to Ostrovets during the operation of the facility. In that regard, we would like to stress the importance of effective cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.  We also recall the European Council conclusions of 10—11 December 2020, and we support the efforts to investigate possible measures preventing commercial electricity imports from third country nuclear facilities that do not fulfil European Union recognised safety levels.  At the same time, we also stress the strategic importance of accelerating the synchronisation of the Baltic electricity grid with the continental European network. The future operation of the Ostrovets nuclear power plant should not in any way hinder the desynchronisation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from the BRELL network.  The European Union should continue the integration of the three Baltic states into the EU electricity grid. We also express our full solidarity with Belarusian citizens and the citizens of EU countries directly concerned by the construction and operation of the Ostrovets plant. We call for the further high—level involvement of the European Union and its institutions in this issue of ultimate European importance. Finally, we would like to invite the Commission to answer the questions submitted by the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and keep us informed of all future developments. We would like to have very good dialogue between Parliament and the ITRE Committee, especially with the Commission. Until now we have had excellent cooperation on this issue and excellent dialogue with Commissioner Kadri Simson. I would like to thank her and her team for their openness and for all the information that was provided to the Members of the ITRE Committee on this issue. It is an issue of concern for us and for many colleagues in Parliament. This is why in this debate we would like to hear answers to our specific questions from the Commission.