Brussels, 18/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - During the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on 14-18 September in Vienna, the EU reaffirmed its commitment to stand by the IAEA in ensuring that the momentum to improve global nuclear safety is “maintained and increased”. The European Commission made this commitment in a press release published on 16 September.
Since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, nuclear safety has been enhanced. The European Commission explained that in Europe, a revised nuclear safety directive had been adopted in July 2014 and EU countries had to transpose it in their national laws by August 2017. The Commission promised that it would “soon” issue its evaluation report for the initial 2009 directive.
Moreover, the so-called 'stress tests' carried out by the Commission and EU countries, identified where nuclear safety needed to be tightened, and these measures are now being implemented. A workshop to review the national actions plans and exchange good practices was organised by the Commission and the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group in April 2015.
The Commission provided assurances that over this period, cooperation on nuclear issues has been enhanced between the EU and the IAEA. Both organisations work closely to achieve common goals on nuclear safety, security, and safeguards, on security of supply, nuclear research and innovation and emergency preparedness and response.
The Commission, representing EU countries, participated in the negotiations to amend the IAEA Convention on Nuclear Safety. Addressing the IAEA conference on 16 September, the Commission called on all contracting parties to implement the declaration, which was adopted at the Diplomatic Conference held in February. The declaration sets out principles and implementation mechanisms to improve and enhance the safety of nuclear power plants.
The Commission pointed out that the EU also works on nuclear safety beyond its borders. It explained that the 'stress tests' were carried out in neighbouring countries which operate nuclear plants or have plans to do so and part of the current EU budget is channelled towards nuclear safety inside and out of the EU including work in Chernobyl, Ukraine, regulatory support for uranium mining in Africa and improving the environment after uranium mining in Central Asia. (Emmanuel Hagry)