The European Commission called Member States which rely on nuclear
energy to apply the highest standards of safety, security, waste
management and non-proliferation.
Today, the EU executive body released its first report on investment
in nuclear safety, named the Nuclear Illustrative Programme (PINC).
According to the Commission, PINC doesn’t dictate the EU governments on
whether to use or not nuclear energy. The EU countries remain free to
decide about their energy mix, but according to PINC, the EU countries
which use nuclear energy in their own energy mix must “apply the highest
standards of safety, security, waste management and non-proliferation
as well as diversify their nuclear fuel supplies.”
Vice-President responsible for Energy Union,
Maroš Šefčovič said: “Based on Member States input, the Nuclear
Illustrative Programme of the Commission (PINC) provides a useful
photograph of the whole lifecycle of nuclear power in Europe: from the
front-end of fuel fabrication, to safety upgrades and long-term
operations, to the back-end of the cycle, including waste management and
decommissioning. The PINC contributes to the implementation of the
Energy Union strategy, by looking into relevant Member States’
investments from the perspective of safety, security of supply,
diversification, technological and industrial leadership”
PINC
The report says that currently there are 129 nuclear power reactors
in operation in 14 Member States, with a total capacity of 120 GWe and
an average age close to 30 years. New build projects are envisaged in 10
Member States, with four reactors already under construction in
Finland, France and Slovakia.
Other projects in Finland, Hungary and the United Kingdom, are under
licensing process, while projects in other Member States (Bulgaria, the
Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland and Romania) are at a preparatory
stage.
Moreover, the United Kingdom has recently announced its intention to
close all coal-fired power plants by 2025 and to fill the capacity gap
mainly with new gas and nuclear power plants.
More can be done on safety
According to PINC even though the current stress tests found that the
safety standards of nuclear power plants in the EU, Switzerland and the
Ukraine are high, further improvements are recommended.
The report says that the amended Nuclear Safety Directive brings the
nuclear safety standards to a higher level. “It sets a clear EU-wide
objective to reduce the risk of accidents and avoid large radioactive
releases. It also introduces the requirement for a European system of
peer reviews, with specific safety issues to be reviewed every six
years. These requirements must be always taken into account when
investing in new nuclear installations and wherever reasonably
practicable when upgrading existing installations,” PINC stresses.
https://neurope.eu/article/ec-states-must-apply-highest-standards-safety-use-nuclear-energy/