03/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - Tanaka (IEA) says that some older nuclear plants may be closed after stress tests. The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Nobuo Tanaka of Japan has not ruled out the possibility of some of the EU's older nuclear reactors having to shut after the stress tests, designed to assess their ability to resist a range of risks, which they will have to undergo before the end of the year. “Some of the older nuclear power plants may be forced to retire earlier than they should be, it depends on the test itself”, Tanaka said on the sidelines of the meeting of EU energy ministers in Gödöllõ on Tuesday 3 May. The tests should be sufficiently tough to ensure the safety of the power plants and convince the public they can trust nuclear power, still a very large part of the EU's energy mix, he said. (E.H./transl.rt)