The nuclear stress tests made to the nuclear power plants in Europe show that the standards of safety of nuclear power plants in Europe are generally high but further improvements in the safety features of almost all European nuclear power plants are recommended.

The European Commission communication on results of the nuclear stress tests shows that although further improvement is needed, the standards of safety of nuclear power plants in Europe are generally high. For this reason, the Commission will follow closely the implementation of the recommendations and will at the same time propose legislative measures to further enhance nuclear safety in Europe.

The European Commission recommends draw lessons from the Fukushima accident occurred in March 2011, in addition to recommend improvements in the safety features of almost all European nuclear power plants. In particular, these include regarding earthquake and flooding risk, the risk calculation should be based on a 10,000 year time frame, instead of the much shorter time periods sometimes used. Also, on-site seismic instruments to measure and alert of possible earthquakes should be available at every nuclear power plant. Containment filtered venting systems to allow safe depressurizing of the reactor containment in case of an accident, should be in place, according to the recommendations; and equipment to fight severe accidents should be stored in places protected even in the event of general devastation and from where it can be quickly obtained.

As next step, national action plans with timetables for implementation will be prepared by national regulators and will be made available by the end of 2012. The action plans will go through peer reviews in early 2013, in order to verify that the stress tests recommendations are consistently implemented in a transparent way throughout Europe. The Commission intends to report on the implementation of the stress test recommendations in June 2014, in full partnership with national regulators.