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European Union’s post-Fukushima Nuclear Safety Framework

safety-symbol-Smflag-EUThe Nuclear Safety Framework in the European Union after Fukushima, EU Bulletin 
Written by European Values | Friday, February 27th, 2015 Franklin Dehousse and Didier Verhoeven (EGMONT – The Royal Institute for International Relations) “…….Even though the nuclear energy has already been in decline in many EU countries before 2011, it was the Fukushima accident that substantially contributed to Germany’s and Belgium’s decisions to abandon nuclear energy entirely, Italy’s decision to cancel the restart of its own nuclear energy program, and France’s decision to gradually decrease the share of nuclear energy in its overall electricity production. The trend to reduce the nuclear plants’ share of electricity supply will probably continue within the Union in the following years. This will happen not only because of the very fact that most of the nuclear reactors are 20 years and older and with only four new ones currently being built, but also because of the boom of renewable sources and the EU’s effort to reduce its energy dependency on Russia…..

The Fukushima accident has…. raised doubts about the hitherto widely recognized assumption that the states’ efforts to ensure their own nuclear security are stronger than any form of international control.

Nevertheless, the EU directive of 2009, which enforced important restrictions, caused wide resentment and thus was replaced by a new directive in 2014, which dropped some of the substantial restrictions. The initial directive introduced common security standards and provided a legal framework for the foundation of a common security body which would associate inspectors with the right to control the implementation of these standards. The new directive, on the other hand, strengthens the security principles without implementing common standards, while seeking to ensure the increasing independence of national regulators and improve the control mechanisms.

(The study can be downloaded here) http://eubulletin.com/4144-the-nuclear-safety-framework-in-the-european-union-after-fukushima.html

March 1, 2015 - Posted by | EUROPE, safety

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