Activites

• 1998/11/09 Final act published in Official Journal
• 1998/10/22 Debate in Parliament
  • T4-0626/1998 summary

    Adopting the report by Mr Giles Chichester (EPP, UK) on the decommissioning of nuclear power stations and other nuclear installations in Europe, Parliament draws attention to the threat to the environment and health which these ageing installations represent. At present some 450 nuclear power stations have been built over the past 44 years worldwide and 380 of them were in operation in 1997. In the same year there were 128 nuclear power stations in service in the EU and 39 were being decommissioned. Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania had a total of 21 nuclear power stations under construction or nearing completion. At present, only the power station at Bohunice in Slovakia has been decommissioned. Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and Kazakhstan had 60 power stations in service and four have been definitively closed. Parliament calls on the Council and Commission to encourage decommissioning of unsafe nuclear power stations in Europe and stresses the responsibility of the operators in this regard. It calls on the Commission to take action to maintain the EU's high level of expertise in the field of nuclear decommissioning and to take further steps to ensure the best possible dissemination of research findings generated by its research programmes on the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, including in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. With regard to these countries (most CEECs have nuclear installations, some of which face immediate decommissioning), Parliament calls on the Commission to study the financial principles and techniques used for raising funds for decommissioning outdated power stations in these countries, and to examine how such techniques could be introduced into these countries. Underlining the importance of long-term technical assistance in Central and Eastern European countries in the area of decommissioning nuclear installations, it also stresses the need for greater transparency and closer cooperation between all parties concerned. Parliament stresses the need for a high level of public information and calls on the Commission to review its information strategy in this regard and to carry out a study into the remaining useful life of nuclear power stations in Europe, taking account of the fact that their useful lives can now be extended to 50 or 60 years. Recognising that different systems require different decommissioning techniques, Parliament considers that decisions should be taken principally on the basis of rigorous assessments of exposure to radiation of the workforce and the public. With regard to waste, Parliament draws attention to the need to avoid mixing different types of radioactive waste and uncontaminated material. It calls on the Commission to review the possibility of reducing the volume of waste to be managed as radioactive and to analyse the possibility of defining techniques for declassifying some of that waste because of its low level of radioactivity. As the dismantling of nuclear plant produces large quantities of low- level radioactive material, and as material which has been in a radioactive controlled area may not be released into unrestricted circulation, Parliament proposes a new category of waste, 'very low level radioactive waste', to be covered by waste management and disposal plans drawn up to follow the French model. �

• 1998/09/29 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0354/1998
• 1998/01/16 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading

Documents

• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0354/1998
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0626/1998

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)