HOW SAFE IS 'SAFE ENOUGH'?
Chernobyl reactors in the EU? Is
Temelin the next Chernobyl?
Brussels – At a press conference FoE
Europe today presented the campaign
focus for the coming months:
Nuclear power plants in EU
candidate countries
The international conflict that was
sparked off by the start-up of the
Czech nuclear power plant Temelin
showed how important this issue is to
people, and that it is a crucial
question for EU-Enlargement. But the
European Union until now has evaded
this question of clearly defining what
standards nuclear power plants have to
comply with.
Dr. Martin Rocholl, FoEE¥s political
coordinator: "We have to be clear about
this: We are talking about the most
dangerous nuclear power plants in the
world, like Kozloduj in Bulgaria or
Bohunice in Slovakia that are still on
the grid in candidate countries. We
want to shed light on how irresponsibly
the EU is handling the issue."
Temelin illustrates once more, how
the EU¥s official statements that the
EU does not have a say in nuclear
safety are used in these countries as
an argument in favour of the dangerous
reactors. The Czech foreign minister
declared that the EU considers Temelin
as being in line with EU standards. But
this is not the case, as the Council
working group on nuclear safety
standards has not even finished its
report yet.
A similar situation to the Czech
Republic exists in Slovakia. As
explained by Palo Siroky from the
Slovak environmental organisation
ZaMatkuZem:"In Slovakia the nuclear
lobby is very strong and nuclear safety
is very low. One example is the
highrisk reactor Bohunice V1. It should
have been shutdown already in 2000, but
the EU – Commission agreed to the
prolongation until 2008. We have
signals that this closure date is not
going to be kept either." Palo Siroky
explained that the Slovak environmental
movement asks the EU to make clear to
the governments in candidate countries
that nuclear safety is an important
issue instead of listening only to what
the nuclear lobby has to say. "The
Slovak environmental movement calls for
an earlier shutdown of V1. But the
so-called independent bodies like WENRA
(Western European Nuclear Regulators
Association) are going to tell us, that
even reactors without containment are
safe enough. In their countries,
Germany, France or Sweden, a reactor
with such a safety level would never
get a permission."
The paper "How safe
is safe" presented today sums up the
situation of nuclear power plants in
the EU accession countries, where the
threats and challenges lie, and what
the EU should do in order to finally
introduce the often demanded "high
nuclear safety standards".
Patricia Lorenz, FoEE
campaigner and author of the paper: "
It is not acceptable, that
organisations like WENRA declare Soviet
design nuclear power plants from the
sixties to be "high nuclear safety".
Than we are going to have two European
Unions: The Western part with higher
safety standards, and the lower
standards for the East. We demand that
current EU - standards are going to be
applied when assessing nuclear safety
in candidate countries and we demand a
transparent nuclear policy, involving
the public in East and West,
non-nuclear states and NGOs
alike."
The paper "How safe
is safe enough" is available through
the FoEE office and can be downloaded
from the homepage
http://www.foeeurope.org
.
Patricia Lorenz,
Friends of the Earth Europe
Tel: +32-2-542 0184, Fax: -5375596
Email:
Patricia.Lorenz@foeeurope.org
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