Bulgaria Joins EU Emergency Nuclear Safety Talks

Speaking in Berlin on Monday, Commissioner Oettinger said "the consequences of events in Japan are not fully foreseeable." Photo by EPA/BGNES

The EU Energy Commissioner, G?nther Oettinger, has called an emergency meeting of nuclear safety experts to be held Tuesday.

The move was triggered by the Nuclear Power Plants, NPP, crisis in Japan in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and following tsunami.

EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger "has invited the 27 energy ministers, all 27 national nuclear safety authorities and all operators of nuclear power plants in the EU and vendors of nuclear power plants in the EU (around 30)," a statement from the European Commission said.

The objective of what is planned to be a two-hour meeting is 'to assess the Japanese situation and to find out if there are any lessons that need to be drawn at the European level,' the note added.

Bulgaria will be represented by Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov, the nuclear safety director at Kozloduy nuclear power plant Mitko Yankov and the chair of nuclear regulation agency Sergei Tsochev.

The meeting will include representatives of the national nuclear safety agencies of all EU Member States and operators of leading NPP facilities to discuss the lessons learned from the Japanese tragedy.

The safety and security of European NNPs was also subject of Monday video conference discussion of all EU environment ministers, a spokesperson of the EC announced.

Austria already called for the testing all European NPPs as soon as possible.

Speaking in Berlin on Monday, Commissioner Oettinger said "the consequences of events in Japan are not fully foreseeable."

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