EC Proposes Nuclear Plant Stress Tests Every 6 Years

The European Commission has put forward a new set of nuclear power safety rules aimed at eliminating the risk of a Fukushima-type disaster in Europe.

The directive will require countries to submit to an international review of their nuclear power systems every six years, and fix any shortcomings discovered.

"It's up to Member States to decide if they want to produce nuclear energy or not. The fact remains that there are 132 nuclear reactors in operation in Europe today. Our task at the Commission is to make sure that safety is given the utmost priority in every single one of them,” Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said.

According to the new rules, all member states should ensure that - in case of accidents - the release of radioactivity in the environment is practically eliminated.

Every nuclear power plant should undergo a periodic safety review at least once every 10 years and a specific review in case of a possible life time extention.

All new nuclear power plants should be designed in a way which ensures that if a reactor core is damaged, this would have no consequences outside the plant.

All nuclear power plants will need to have an emergency response centres which is protected against radioactivity and earthquakes or flooding and implementing strict accident management guidelines.

The draft law by the European Commission follows a series of stress tests on EU nuclear stations in response to Japan’s atomic accident caused by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

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