18 Mar (NucNet): The European Commission reacted to events at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan by calling for every nuclear power station in European Union member states to undergo a “stress test” of their safety and emergency preparedness.
European commissioner for energy Günther Oettinger said independently conducted stress tests should be carried out as soon as possible.
In the US, president Barack Obama asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to carry out a comprehensive review of the safety of domestic nuclear plants.
Europe’s nuclear power plant manufacturers jointly proposed the establishment of a round table under the leadership of the European Commission, Germany’s E.ON said. The idea of the round table is to bring together the various national supervisory authorities, plant operators and manufacturers to ensure that analysis of the events in Japan benefits from all the expertise Europe has to offer.
Foratom, the the Brussels-based nuclear industry association, said it was “imperative” that an international, or at the very least, an EU level approach, is undertaken to analyse the consequences of the Japanese nuclear accident, and to develop a common framework to reassess the safety of nuclear power plants.
In France, president Nikolas Sarkozy reaffirmed the safety of the country’s 58 nuclear reactors.
In Germany, chancellor Angela Merkel said all nuclear plants built before 1980 would be taken offline for the duration of a three-month nuclear security review. She also imposed a three-month moratorium on the recently-adopted decision to extend the operational duration of the country’s nuclear plants.
Keith Parker of the UK’s Nuclear Industry Association said he supports government views that the UK should take time to review and learn the lessons of the Japan crisis, while at the same time recognising that its current nuclear fleet has an excellent safety record and is a crucial part of the UK’s low-carbon power supply.
The Belgian energy minister, Paul Magnette, said that the decision to extend the lifetime of the country’s nuclear plants would be put on hold until stress tests had been carried out.
In Switzerland, the government suspended the approval process for the construction of three new nuclear plants in order to review safety standards.
Bulgaria said it did not exclude the possibility of building a new nuclear reactor at the existing site in Kozloduy instead of constructing it at Belene, which is more exposed to seismic activity.
Other countries confirmed their new build or life extension plans. Italy and Poland said they would stick to plans to build their first nuclear units by 2020, although in Italy a referendum on the issue is expected to be held in June.
The Dutch and the Czech governments said they would carry on with their new build plans.
In Sweden, the prime minister said that the government would not reconsider its decision to replace nuclear reactors at the end of their lifetime.
In the US, the Nuclear Energy Institute said a review of nuclear plants in the US is “an appropriate step” after an event of this scale and “we expect that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct its own assessment”.
The American Nuclear Society wrote to president Obama saying events at Fukushima-Daiichi were evolving rapidly and had been clouded by conflicting information and misleading media reports. The society urged policymakers to withhold judgment on US nuclear policy until the situation in Japan is resolved and fully understood.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
EC Calls For Information On Back-Up Power Systems At European NPPs (News In Brief No. 66, 15 March 2011)
EC Calls For ‘Transparent Stress Tests’ For European Nuclear Plants (News in Brief No. 67, 15 March 2011)
