EU States Stall Commission's Nuclear Safety Standards

BRUSSELS, Belgium, October 15, 2003 (ENS) - Five governments are preparing to block a European Commission proposal to create the European Union's first ever legal nuclear safety standards. With top level support from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, the two countries plus Sweden, Finland and Belgium are insisting that two draft laws be downgraded into non-binding instruments.

The European Commission, the EU executive branch, issued its controversial nuclear safety package in January. EU member states have begun considering the proposals in detail only this autumn.

It was clear from the outset that several governments viewed the proposals as an unnecessary addition to the existing international framework and an unwarranted extension of EU powers.

Schroeder and Blair have now set out these arguments in a letter to Commission President Romano Prodi. It marks a second potentially decisive intervention into EU environmental issues this autumn by the two leaders, who last month demanded simplification of the proposed REACH chemical policy for the registration and authorization of chemical substances.

British Nuclear Fuel Ltd. Chapelcross Magnox nuclear power station, England (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)

Sources suggest that the coalition is in no mood to accept compromise proposals put forward by both the Commission and the EU's Italian Presidency that would soften the two directives' requirements while maintaining their legal status.

"No one is against safety in nuclear plants, but we don't think that the Commission's approach is the right way," one government source told Environment Daily. The nuclear safety directive would introduce "disturbance, a new level of decisionmaking and a lack of clarity over where responsibility lies."

Neither it nor the nuclear waste management proposal "give anything of added value," the source said on condition of anonymity.

The five countries have contrasting domestic policies regarding atomic energy. Finland and the UK are both nominally pro-nuclear while Germany, Sweden and Belgium are all committed to phasing it out as an energy source.

Europe's nuclear industry is split over the legislative package but is largely skeptical, agreeing with the five governments that it would add an unnecessary extra regulatory layer. However, one industry source suggested that it "will be difficult to explain [it] to the public" if the directives are killed off.

Due to the draft directives' legal base, the European Parliament has only consultative powers. According to an industry source, the Parliament looks likely to support both proposals and - given the "complex and unclear" situation in the Council of Ministers - could play an important role in the debate.

{Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily, Europe's choice for environmental news. Environmental Data Services Ltd, London. Email: envdaily@ends.co.uk}