Oettinger pushes for stress tests of Europe's nuclear plants

Oettinger commended the safety standards currently in place in EU countries, but at the same time told German media that Europe must consider a "foreseeable future" without nuclear energy.

Against a background of Japanese resilience in the face of what appears to be the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl 25 years ago, Europe appears to be reaching for the panic button for no particular reason.

Oettinger chaired a hectic meeting of ministers, diplomats, regulators and representatives of energy companies who operate nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Brussels yesterday, which was followed by a debate with MEPs at the European Parliament.

Despite the paucity of information on the disaster at Fukushima nuclear power plant, Oettinger was quick to rate the Japanese catastrophe on an international scale of six out of seven. The Chernobyl disaster is the only one ever to have scored seven on the global ranking, and was followed by the Three Mile Island incident in the USA in 1979, which was rated four.

"I wouldn't like to imagine the worst but it's possible," he said, hinting at the possibility of a further deterioration in the situation in Japan.

In their quest for security, ministers and experts decided in the end to introduce "stress tests" for Europe’s 195 nuclear power plants (NNPs). In the EU there are 134 NPPs spread across fourteen countries.

Hours after the meeting ended, Commission spokespeople had no clue what these "stress tests" should consist of. Journalists were instead advised to ask the Austrian authorities the same question.

Austrian Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich called for such stress tests on Sunday to make sure that nuclear power stations were quake-proof following Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami. Austria, a mountainous country rich in hydrothermal energy, has no NPPs and no plans to develop nuclear energy.

Oettinger emerged from the meeting announcing that the decision to introduce stress tests had been adopted without any opposition. The details of the stress tests would be determined at another meeting in April, he said.

By July this year the stress tests will have been adopted and they will be implemented in the second half of the year, he insisted, explaining that carrying out the tests will be voluntary, as under current EU legislation nuclear safety is an area of shared competence between the EU and its member countries.

The focus of the stress tests will differ according to local conditions, taking into account the seismic situation or the risks of flooding. The criteria used will be the strictest criteria in individual member countries, he explained.

Oettinger also said that non-EU countries such as Switzerland or Russia will be expected to conduct such testing too, according to EU standards. He also hinted that these countries could participate in drawing up the criteria of the tests.

Nuclear safety will naturally become one of the topics of the 24-25 March EU summit, Oettinger predicted.