Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-12-Speech-1-029-000"
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"en.20120312.16.1-029-000"2
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"Mr President, Ms Reding, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday at 06.46, Strasbourg time, time stopped in Japan. In a joint prayer, the Japanese people turned their thoughts to those killed or injured by the natural disaster together with the serious nuclear incident at the Fukushima power plant.
Secondly, governance must be reviewed so as to give greater independence to the national safety authorities.
My third point relates to transparency. In this sector, transparency must be beyond reproach. All national safety authorities must make their documents public to ensure that their citizens are properly informed.
Fourthly, we must review development and the technical criteria relating to the selection of sites where nuclear power plants are located.
Fifthly, we must jointly improve emergency preparedness and response. I would like to remind Members of the proposal to create a European civil protection force.
Sixthly, operators’ civil liability needs to be clarified. We must include all the costs of nuclear power within cost prices, including possible risks and the costs of decommissioning power plants, either through suitable insurance, or through own capital requirements.
Seventhly, the full costs should be included – sorry, I just said that, in relation to risks and decommissioning.
Eighthly, I would like to mention scientific training and research. On this point, I welcome the Commission’s proposals to extend the Euratom research programme by two years.
Worldwide, we will not be able to resolve our problems concerning energy and competitiveness, maintaining our lifestyle while tackling global warming, without addressing all these issues, which are necessary for the operation of nuclear power plants throughout the world and, in particular, for maximum safety.
One year earlier, on 11 March at the same time, 06.46, an earthquake of 8.9 on the Richter scale caused the loss of the plant’s electricity supply. The reactors shut down and the emergency generators went into operation. Unfortunately, 55 minutes later, 14-metre high waves devastated the plant: 19 000 dead, 340 000 displaced persons, an earthquake and a tsunami produced the greatest nuclear disaster in the world.
Mr President, on behalf of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) I would like to thank you for your initiative and to say that the dignity and courage of the Japanese people, their government and the families affected are in our thoughts. We are thinking of them.
This disaster led to a political debate, as you have pointed out, involving all sectors of the public. In the heat of the moment, some states decided either to shut down nuclear power plants immediately or to gradually phase them out. However, worldwide there are more nuclear plants being constructed than the number shut down, and so the issue is a topical one.
Moreover, this disaster is just one in the list of increasingly frequent disasters worldwide. Who could forget the earthquake in Haiti or the Deepwater oil disaster? Commissioner, the European Union reacted immediately, and I would like to thank your colleague, Mr Oettinger.
After the disaster on 11 March, the European Council met immediately, on 24 and 25 March 2011, and called for a comprehensive evaluation of the safety risks of nuclear power for all the plants in the European Union. The European Commission was asked to review the June 2009 directive on nuclear safety, and the programme was thus set up.
Today, all the Member States have carried out their evaluations; we await a peer review and the European Council in June 2012 will make an overall assessment.
The PPE Group would like thinking to focus on the following areas for improvement.
Firstly, with regard to safety standards, the European Union and its citizens must be assured that we have the best safety standards in the world. We know that these safety standards develop in line with scientific expertise and that they must be continually amended and made binding upon operators in the sector."@en1
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