Technology / Science
EU at loggerheads after the Japan nuclear disaster
15 Mar 2011 at 05:40hrs | Views
Japan's nuclear reactor emergency triggered a wave of reactions in the European Union, with environment ministers urging stress tests on operating nuclear plants and MEPs calling for nuclear energy to be phased out.
While awaiting clearer information from Japan, EU ministers and experts in charge of energy and nuclear issues will meet today (15 March) in Brussels at the request of EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger.
They will mull the possible application of EU-wide stress tests for the 143 nuclear reactors currently operating on the bloc's territory, and debate the wider issue of nuclear security in Europe.
EU environment ministers, gathered yesterday (14 March) in Brussels for a regular meeting, expressed support for a proposal from Austria to check the security of operating nuclear plants. German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the three-month suspension of a law aimed at prolonging the activity of old nuclear plants. Two of the 17 operating reactors in Germany are expected to be temporary shut down.
During the moratorium "the security of the situation will be assessed in view of what happened in Japan," Merkel said during a press conference in Berlin.
The two main parties in the European Parliament, the European People's Party (EPP) and the Social Democrats (S&D), called for security checks to be carried out at all nuclear plants in Europe.
Spanish and Portuguese environment representatives (both from socialist governments) went further and called for the gradual phase-out of nuclear energy, echoing the position of the Greens.
Britain, France and Italy asked for "calm". France and the UK are the EU countries with the highest number of nuclear reactors, 58 and 19 respectively. Italy has no nuclear plants but has embarked on an ambitious nuclear programme to reduce its dependency on external energy sources.
EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard gave assurances that "all necessary measures nwill be taken," but added that with 143 operating rectors, "nuclear power will be there for quite some time, whatever happens".
POSITIONS
"We need common European standards not only for nuclear safety, but also for emergency management and civil protection," declared European People's Party (EPP) MEPs Richard Seeber (Austria) and Peter Liese (Germany).
"We need a stress test for all nuclear plants in Europe. How long do our cooling systems work after a power blackout? The crisis response mechanisms in European plants must be better than in Japan," they added in a note. Seeber and Liese are responsible for coordinating the EPP Group's position on environmental issues.
German Socialist & Democrats MEP Jo Leinen said: "In the light of what happened in Japan, we need to look again at safety standards for Europe's nuclear reactors. They will not be hit by a tsunami, of course, but there are other risks, including terrorist attack. In the highly populated European continent, the consequences of a safety breakdown do not bear contemplation. Prudence requires that we re-evaluate our safety measures for nuclear reactors."
European Green Party (EGP) spokesperson Monica Frassoni said that "it is clear that these events only strengthen our determination to quickly phase out from this dangerous, costly and dirty energy source. We have alternatives and now governments should listen more to reality than to manipulative industry lobbies," she said in a note.
Humberto D. Rosa, Portuguese State Secretary for the Environment, commented: "In the light of the nuclear meltdown in Japanese power plants, member states need to reconsider their energy policy and related security measures. Nuclear power is neither a safe option, nor is it sustainable. In the past decades, we have not managed to prevent accidents and to find a solution for the storage of highly toxic nuclear waste. We need to adopt common binding EU standards on the security of reactors and on nuclear waste storage."
Teresa Ribera, Spanish State Secretary for the Environment, said: "While we are able to accept binding rules on the consolidation of public households and productivity, the EU does little to transform our energy production. In order to ensure safe, sustainable and economic viable energy supply, we need to gradually phase out fossil and nuclear energy and replace it with renewable energy. To make this possible, energy efficiency needs to be improved considerably. Adopting a binding EU target of 20% energy efficiency improvements by 2020 is a must."
Source - Byo24News
