| Author (Person) | Cronin, David |
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| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.10, No.8, 4.3.04 |
| Publication Date | 04/03/2004 |
| Content Type | News |
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By David Cronin Date: 04/03/04 GAINING responsibility for nuclear safety might seem like a poisoned chalice - and a radioactive one. Yet the European Commission has its eyes on such a prize - to the chagrin of some large member states. As European Voice revealed last week, Commission President Romano Prodi has clashed with Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder over efforts to give the EU power to supervize nuclear installations. While Prodi has told the German chancellor and British premier that such a move is necessary to deal with the reactors in incoming EU countries (such as Ignalina in Lithuania and Bohunice in Slovakia), Blair and Schröder are unconvinced. The pair joined forces last autumn to argue key elements of a "nuclear safety package" tabled by the EU executive could lead to an unnecessary duplication of work by the International Atomic Energy Agency and could undermine the powers of national regulators in member states, who are already in charge of ensuring nuclear safety standards are upheld. The inter-institutional wrangling has its roots in the world's most calamitous nuclear accident - at Ukraine's Chernobyl complex in 1986. Following that catastrophe, the UN devised a set of accords on nuclear safety, which sparked a debate in the EU about whether the Union could ratify them as a single entity. In turn, there was a debate about whether the EU bears responsibility under its treaties for nuclear safety, or if this remained the preserve of member-state authorities. The issue was eventually clarified with a 2001 European Court of Justice ruling, which stated that nuclear safety is indeed an EU competence. While no member state government has said the Luxembourg-based court got it wrong, four of them (the UK, Germany, Sweden and Finland) are opposed to the "nuclear safety" package designed to put it into practice. Together, they have sufficient votes to block its approval by the Council of Ministers, so the Commission has had to go back to the drawing board. It is due to present a revised proposal to take on board concerns raised about nuclear waste and the decommissioning of reactors, aired when the package was debated in the European Parliament in January. Then, MEPs voted that new laws should be drafted providing for the availability of funds to put obsolete reactors out of business. The Parliament urged such finances should only be used for decommissioning or waste management and not as aid for a flagging nuclear industry. In addition, Parliament stated that funding should not be allocated to upgrading nuclear plants outside the EU if they fail to decommission low-standard reactors. Meanwhile, the assembly wants to make it mandatory for each EU government to compile detailed strategies for the long-term management of all types of radioactive waste by 2006. Although MEPs have won praise from the nuclear industry for agreeing that national regulators should maintain controls over nuclear safety, sources say the Commission remains eager there should be a clear EU competence in this field. Green activists suggest this inter-institutional power grab could make little difference in the real world, where a nuclear explosion can cause levels of childhood leukaemia and congenital birth defects to soar. "For us, it is less important at what level an authority exists as to what the substance of the authority is," says Mark Johnston, of Friends of the Earth, who argues that the package fails to lay out a more stringent safety regime for Europe's nuclear industry. The European Commission wants to assume responsibility for supervision of nuclear installations. However, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder believe key elements of the Commission's 'nuclear safety package' could lead to duplication of work by the International Atomic Energy Agency. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Energy |
