Brussels, 19/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - Recommendations following the results of the stress tests for 143 nuclear reactors in the EU will only be made next May at the end of the third stage in the process - examination by peers. Following the assessments made at the end of 2011 by the national safety authorities, no immediate decision has been made. Commissioner Oettinger denies that he had announced in the press the closure of 3 to 5 French reactors.
Marlene Holzner, Günther Oettinger's spokesperson, denied reports published in the German magazine, Capital, according to which the commissioner for energy had confided with close sources that 3 of the 58 French reactors would obtain negative results from their stress tests. In a report quoted by AFP, the spokesperson stated: “the tests are ongoing and we will not prejudge their results at this stage. In a few months' time, when the third stage of the tests has been concluded, we will make a number of recommendations.”
Launched on 1 June 2011, following the accident at the Fukushima plant in Japan, stress tests on natural disasters and technical failings at nuclear plants in the EU (and neighbouring countries) were carried out on the basis of common criteria decided on by the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) and the Commission. They are currently in their third phase. After the report published on 31 October by the operators, the national safety authorities provided their assessments at the end of December 2011. ENSREG is due to compile final national reports from the 14 member states using atomic energy by April (Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Romania, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden), in addition to Lithuania, which is proceeding to a declassification of the third section of its Ignalina reactor). National evaluations are coordinated by ENSREG and are now the subject of an examination by peers and experts from other member states and the Commission. The latter will present the final results of these tests to European leaders during their meeting in June this year.
The risk analysis examines human factors (terrorist attacks, aeroplane accidents etc) and the management of threats linked to deliberate acts of destruction, within a framework supervised by an ad hoc group at the Nuclear Safety Council. (HE/trransl.fl)