By Martin Banks - 9th September 2011
There will be consequences to follow
Jean-Pol Poncelet
A top expert has admitted that "consequences" were inevitable following the nuclear disaster in Japan earlier this year.
But Jean-Pol Poncelet, director general of Foratom, said the catastrophe need not spell the end of nuclear energy in Europe.
The conference, organised by Eurelectric, the body representing Europe's electricity industry, brought together a range of experts to discuss the future of the nuclear sector in the wake of the Fukushima accident.
Poncelet said, "We have to face up to the fact that this was a very substantial event and there will be consequences to follow.
"At present, we do not yet know exactly what these will be."
He added, "But the point I want to make is that, despite this disaster, the long-term benefits of nuclear for Europe's energy supplies remain valid.
"Nuclear is competitive and continues to offer security of supply and low-carbon electricity," said Poncelet, whose organisation represents the nuclear power sector in Europe.
He told the conference that nuclear should still "feature prominently" in the so-called EU energy roadmap 2050 which the European commission is due to publish later this year.
The debate also heard from Christian Egenhofer, of the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies, a leading think tank.
He said, "In the longer term, Fukushima may result in a chance to increase EU competence and raise standards as regards nuclear safety."
He said this could start with a revision of the Euratom treaty "with a stronger focus on binding Europe-wide safety standards".
It could also seek to eliminate legal "inconsistencies" with the new legislative structure of the EU.
"This could, for example, lead to the European parliament being given co-decision powers on related matters.
"In addition, there may now be mounting pressure to raise safety standards."
He was scathing of the EU's stress tests on nuclear power stations, saying, "The recent saga about EU stress tests is a case study of how not to do it.
A few days after the Japan disaster, the commission said all nuclear plants should be submitted to a review.
"This would have been a genuine European response," said Egenhofer.
However, since EU competences are very limited as regards nuclear safety issues, member states could only agree on the least common denominator in the form of voluntary tests based on criteria that are lower than those applied by many national regulators, possibly even excluding man-made events such as severe human error or sabotage."
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