EC stress tests reveal defects at Europe nuclear reactors

The European Commission has released the communication on the results of the stress tests it ordered in response to the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident. This document highlights that European nuclear power plants have generally high safety standards but further improvements are needed in almost all of them. Nevertheless national safety authorities came to the conclusion that no closure of Nuclear Power Plants was warranted. These tests have established that not all safety standards promoted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and not all international best practices are applied in all Member States. 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



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.



In addition to the specific technical findings and recommendations, the Commission has reviewed the existing European legal framework for nuclear safety and will present a revision of the current nuclear safety directive in early 2013. The proposed amendments will focus on safety requirements, the role and powers of nuclear regulatory authorities, transparency, as well as monitoring.