Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-04-06-Speech-3-468-000"
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"en.20110406.32.3-468-000"2
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".
Mr President, Mrs Győri, ladies and gentlemen, the terrible earthquake of 11 March, the subsequent tsunami, the accident in the nuclear power plant, which caused damage to the various blocks, and the fact that there is still no end in sight to the process of repairing the damage and overcoming the risks, as the nuclear power station is still out of control, even with the use of the latest technology: all of these events are causing us concern with regard to safety and the energy sector in the European Union and elsewhere. For this reason, on 11 March, we invited a high-level group consisting of ministers and representatives of the national governments, the nuclear power plant construction companies and the energy sector to attend a meeting on 15 March. In the Council of Energy Ministers, we made preparations on 21 March for the European Council, which finally, on 25 March, called on the Commission and the national nuclear safety authorities to carry out a special stress test and a comprehensive safety investigation with the aim of ensuring the highest possible safety standards. Since then, we have been drawing up the test criteria.
The Directorates-General, myself and the nuclear safety authorities have been putting together a catalogue of test criteria, which will be presented to you and to the public before it is finally adopted. On the one hand, this concerns the consequences of the risks for power stations in the European Union from earthquakes and from high water, particularly on the Atlantic coast. On the other hand, it concerns the consequences for the power stations themselves, in other words, the question of how the cooling systems, the electricity supply and the emergency generators can be protected. Other test factors include terrorist and cyber attacks and aircraft crashing into power stations.
We believe that the consultation and the decision on the test criteria will be completed by the middle of May at the meeting of ENSREG, the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group. By the end of the year, we expect comprehensive testing to have taken place in order to ensure the highest possible safety standards in the 143 nuclear power plants in the European Union. We have spoken to the governments of the Russian Federation and Ukraine and, in the next few days, we will be contacting Switzerland and Armenia and, in addition, the countries that are planning to build nuclear power stations, such as Turkey and Belarus. Our aim in all of this is to ensure that the highest safety standards and the test criteria for the safety investigation are applied in the countries which are the immediate neighbours of the European Union.
We know that the responsibility for the energy mix and, therefore, also for energy technology, nuclear power plants and other technologies lies with the Member States. Over the last few days, it has become clear that the Member States want to retain these powers. In other words, it does not seem realistic on the basis of current treaties and legislation to take the decision on nuclear power at a European level. However, the safety test, which everyone must take part in, seems to me to be the common denominator for all the Member States because of the high standards it imposes, regardless of whether they do or do not have nuclear power. Around 76% of electricity in France is generated by nuclear power, while the figure in Austria is 0%. A total of 14 Member States use nuclear power and 13 do not. Germany is currently investigating shortening the operational time spans of its power stations. Poland is considering whether to build its first nuclear power plant and Italy is looking at whether to invest in additional power stations.
Alongside the implementation of the safety investigation, we believe that the transfer of the Nuclear Safety Directive into national law by July of this year is of the greatest importance. Our plan was to carry out an evaluation in 2014 of the Nuclear Safety Directive, which was adopted by Parliament and by the Council and is to be transposed into national law. We now want to bring this forward. We intend to inform you by the end of the year about our further considerations on how the directive can be strengthened, as it currently primarily concerns formal powers and the bodies that have to be established, together with other areas.
I would also like to mention the proposals for nuclear waste which have been presented by the Commission and are currently being debated by Parliament and the Council. These will also contribute to the joint measures for ensuring the highest possible levels of safety. We know that the safety investigation will result in the Member States drawing their own conclusions. However, I am relying on the impact that reality will have in this case. I am relying on the Member States to take on board the safety evaluation, the standards and the necessary measures proposed by the experts and to put these things into practice in their countries and their nuclear power stations. In the middle of May, we will tell you when we expect to be able to present to you the draft of the stress test and the test criteria produced at a working level."@en1
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