Berlin and Brussels aim to intensify cooperation on nuclear safety

Today, Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks met with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Security and Home Affairs responsible for nuclear safety, Jan Jambon, and Minister of Environment Marie Christine Marghem in Brussels. The focus of the meeting was on extending the operating lives of Belgian nuclear power plants Doel and Tihange and the return to operation of reactors Tihange 2 and Doel 3. During this meeting it was agreed that Germany and Belgium will intensify cooperation on nuclear safety and adopt an agreement to create a permanent basis for this cooperation. A German-Belgian working group on nuclear safety was established that will commence its work immediately and draw up proposals. Minister Hendricks also advocated that a transboundary environmental impact assessment should not only be mandatory for new construction of nuclear power plants but also when extending the operating life of older plants. She also brought home to her Belgian colleagues that German residents, particularly in border regions, are very concerned about operations in Belgian nuclear power plants.

Federal Environment Minister Hendricks said: "If we decide to use nuclear energy, we have to be prepared to face critical questions from our neighbours. This applies to extending the operating lives of older nuclear power plants, which, in my opinion, is the wrong path to take. But we also have to insist that the questions regarding safety issues of Tihange 2 and Doel 3, which experts from my ministry submitted to the Belgian nuclear supervisory bodies more than two weeks ago, are answered comprehensively. We want to know which review and assessment procedure was applied and how safety certification for the two plants' reactor pressure vessels was furnished. According to the experts of my ministry, the hydrogen flakes found in the reactor pressure vessels in both plants present a significant deviation from the required quality of manufacture. We see it therefore as highly doubtful whether this is in line with the basic safety requirements for nuclear power plants. I would like to thank Deputy Prime Minister Jambon for his assurance today that our catalogue of questions would be answered as quickly as possible."

Experts from the Federal Environment Ministry had presented a list with 15 open questions on the safety of nuclear power plants Tihange 2 and Doel 3 at an international meeting hosted by the Belgian supervisory authority on 11 and 12 January.

Federal Environment Minister Hendricks underlined that there was agreement that a fixed legal framework was needed for a regular longterm exchange of information on nuclear safety between Germany and Belgium. Minister Hendricks commented: "We will start negotiations on this topic without delay. I envisage an agreement on nuclear safety that includes a commission that meets regularly. We have already adopted such agreements with other neighbours such as France. These agreements have proven successful as they offer a reliable basis for open and critical debates of key issues of nuclear safety.