Policy makers and industry representatives meeting at the coordination meeting convened by the Commissioner Günther Oettinger to analyze the situation caused in Fukushima nuclear power plant after the earthquake and tsunami which affected Japan in the previous days, agreed to hold stress tests in all nuclear power plants of the European Union. The European Commission will determine the timing and common standards for such tests which will assess preparedness and resilience of these facilities in view of an eventual incident.

This coordination meeting convened by the Commissioner Oettinger to analyse preparedness in European nuclear power plants, gathered in Brussels on 15 March EU Energy Ministers, all 27 national nuclear safety authorities as well as all operators and vendors of nuclear power plants in the European Union.

Following this meeting, Commissioner Oettinger announced the general agreement reached by all parties for European stress test for nuclear power plants in all member states as well as Tuquey, Russia and Switzerland. This agreement was reached by all parties represented at the meeting, on a voluntary basis, in order to assess the safety situation of nuclear sector in Europe. As highlighted by representatives of the industry, although all nuclear installations across Europe are meeting the applicable standards, this is not enough and lessons should be learnt from the situation in Japan.

Drawing lessons from the accident in Fukushima, Japan

Although all participants from the industry have already studied their own assessments whether any improvements to the new challenges are necessary, they welcomed Commission's initiative to rather apply a common standard for the EU. In order to determine such common standards, the European Commission will organise a further meeting of the high level conference which will come up with proposals on how and when stress test with common test criteria and standards can be carried out.

In a special appearance before Parliament's Energy Committee following the coordination meeting, Commissioner Oettinger reiterated EU's close follow up of the situation caused by the emergency in Japan, and reassured MEPs that all stakeholders are prepared to conduct extraordinary stress tests including risk assessments of possible damage by earthquakes and high water levels. Common standards are expected to be available by mid-2011, and tests themselves should be performed by the end of the year.

Situation of nuclear safety in the European Union, the role of Member states

According to EU Directive on Nuclear Safety, the EU has established a legal framework for the safety of nuclear power plants. This framework lays down that Member States must provide for national rules, the licence of nuclear power plants and the safety supervision. This means that national safety authorities do the inspections of the nuclear power plants and check whether contingency plans and safety standards are in place.

Therefore, any decision on the early closure of nuclear power plants or on a moratorium on the construction of future plants taken by member states in view of the situation in Japan, corresponds to national governments and public opinion in the Member States.