The European Commission (EC) published on 24 November a Communication saying that the “stress tests” process is “well on track”. The EC examined the reports submitted by licensees and EU national regulators of all the 14 countries that operate nuclear reactors in the EU. The Communication concludes that there is a need to strengthen EU legislation and/or the cooperation among Member States in the following areas: safety standards (siting, design, construction and operation); emergency responsiveness, liability, and safety research.

The risk and safety assessments (stress tests) that are looking at the impact of natural disasters, for example floods and earthquakes and severe accidents are progressing according to plans.  The nuclear operators submitted a preliminary report to the national regulator by 15 August 2011. The national regulatory bodies produced national progress reports by 15 September 2011. On 9 December 2011, the EC will present a progress report to the European Council. The national regulatory bodies must finalise their national report by 31 December 2011. The peer-review of those reports will be completed by 30 April 2012 and in June 2012 the EC will submit a consolidated report to the European Council. It is important to recall that the assessments will be done on a voluntary basis and that all EU member states that operate nuclear power plants have agreed to carry them out. Ukraine and Switzerland are also taking part in the assessments process.

Security aspects such as terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks, airplane crashes are evaluated in a parallel process run under the auspices of the Council of the EU. The progress report of the newly created Council Ad-hoc Group on Nuclear Security, annexed to the Commission interim report, highlights that Member States, in their commitment to nuclear security, are ready to go further.

For further information, you can consult the website of DG Energy.