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Nuclear Transparency Watch

Prevent and anticipate through transparency and participation

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English summary of the Report of the German Commission on the Storage of High- Level Radioactive Waste

After more than two years of work the German commission on nuclear waste disposal (“Endlagerkommission”) in July 2016 released its final report. In February 2017 a translation of the summary of the report has been made available. The report focuses on the importance of the safety of a final repository and on siting issues as well as recommending a repository solution that is reversible. The report recognises the importance of transparency in information and public participation and ends by giving a number of political and social recommendations.

The English summary of the report of the German Commission on the Storage of High- Level Radioactive Waste: Donwload

There is within Germany from different sides still criticism on the operation of the Commission, which did not permanently exclude the Gorleben site, that has been considered for final disposal of German high-level radioactive waste, from future siting decisions. The Commission instead refers this issue to the German Government that is to draft a legal regulation on siting during 2017. This includes issues of transparency, among others about role of a strategic environmental assessment and related public participation questions.

More information is available on:

– Website “Aarhus Konvention”: http://aarhus-konvention-initiative.de.
Statement of Dr. Roda Verheyen concerning the violation of the Aarhus Convention by German Law commissioned by the Aarhus Konvention Initiative., forwarded to the German Environmental Ministry in June 2016: http://aarhus-konvention-initiative.de/aarhus-stellungnahme-umweltrechtsbehelfsgesetz/

– Website of Friends of the Earth Germany BUND:  “the search process for a repository site for highly radioactive nuclear waste  – BUND’s criticism and demands”. 

 

EU nuclear decommissioning assistance programmes are over-budget and behind schedule

A September 2016 report from the European Court of Auditors hilglights that Eight reactors across sites in three countries – Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovakia –are years behind schedule in decommissioning and still require billions in funding. The decommissioning of these eight Soviet-designed nuclear reactors in Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovakia was a condition for the countries’ EU accession.

This special report No 22/2016 is called “EU nuclear decommissioning assistance programmes in Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovakia: some progress made since 2011, but critical challenges ahead”: http://www.eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/DocItem.aspx?did=37685.

The European court of auditors found that the EU funding programmes set up to assist with meeting this requirement have not created the right incentives for timely and cost-effective decommissioning. While some progress has been made, key infrastructure projects have experienced delays, and the critical challenges involved in working in the controlled areas still lie ahead.

The EU auditors said the reactor buildings at Bulgaria’s Kozloduy, Lithuania’s Ignalina and Slovakia’s Bohunice had yet to be dismantled and no solution had been found for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel.

Decommissioning costs vary according to the type and size of reactor, its location, the availability of disposal facilities and the condition of the reactor. The cost of final spent fuel depositories is also still largely unknown.

By 2020, EU support should have reached 3.8 billion euro. According to the European auditors, the estimated total cost of decommissioning will be at least 5.7 billion euro. That figure doubles if the cost of disposing spent fuel once and for all is included.

Other EU Member States face the same challenges. The report shines a spotlight on the challenges facing Germany and other nations within the bloc that are planning to retire their nuclear reactors.

According to EU Commission data, only three out of the 91 reactors shutdown in Europe have been fully dismantled. The only repository for spent fuel being dug deep underground in Europe has been under construction in Finland for nearly 40 years and won’t be ready until after 2020.

A working paper by the European Commission, seen by Reuters in February, showed that Europe was short of more than 118 billion euros needed to dismantle its nuclear plants and waste storage management[1].

[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-nuclear-idUSKCN0VP1S6

NEW REPORT: Transparency and participation in RWM national programmes

A new report from the Joint Project

After about a year’s experience with available national waste management programmes until June 2016 based on Directive 2011/70/Euratom, the Joint Project produced a report about status of national programmes and SEAs in the JP countries. They analysed several aspects of transparency and public participation  and their implementation in the countries.

This evaluation is based on selected results from an EU-financed project (BEPPER). While the BEPPER results provided us with a qualified position about transparency and participation from a societal and also scientific viewpoint (good practice), recent experience shows that this good practice mostly is not or only partially reflected in national programmes. Therefore a “reality check” of the national programmes of the Joint Project countries (if available) was carried out with the aim of identifying the Member states ́ approaches and comparing them to the recommendations of international good practice of transparency and participation, identifying inconsistencies and developing recommendations for improvement of the implementation of Art. 10 of the Waste Directive.

The report can be downloaded here 

The joint working group consists of members from Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungaria, Romania and Poland. Current members of the Joint Project are:

 

New report on Nuclear Safety in India

Greenpeace India today released a report lead by Davidd Boiley, Director of ACRO and member of NTW. The report, titled ‘Red Alert – India’s nuclear disaster plans, outdated and inadequate’, assesses India’s nuclear disaster plans and concludes that India’s plans do not offer a complete defence-in-depth for existing nuclear plants.

The report stresses the breaches of current India’s plans:
– The report examines differences with Fukushima and shows a lack of emergency preparedness and provides recommendations for the authorities to act upon.
– The manual on emergency preparedness at Kalpakkam still has emergency guidelines from an ancient manual adopted in 1984, well before the Chernobyl disaster.
– India’s acceptable limit of contaminated food are set dangerously higher than international limits.
– The report also examined the weak learnings of the recent nuclear accident at Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) and the lack of an Independent Nuclear Regulator.

Please download here the full report

Capture d’écran 2016-06-07 à 14.56.07

 

Nuclear Experts’ Perception of Lay Attitudes toward Nuclear Issues (2013)

22th International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe (NENE 2013)

It took place in September 2013 in Slovenia on the topic “Nuclear Experts’ Perception of Lay Attitudes toward Nuclear Issues”. ABSTRACT From the previous research performed during last years it became clear that the attitudes, opinions and perception regarding nuclear issues in the broadest sense including topics like radioactivity and properties of radiation, influence of ionizing radiation on humans, functioning of nuclear facilities and riskiness of support activities (e.g. transport) differ very much between nuclear experts and lay people. As nuclear experts should be involved in communication with the public on nuclear topics it is important to understand their understanding of the public opinions, because this could influence their attitudes toward the general public and their way of communication with them. Study presents nuclear experts’ perception of lay public attitudes toward nuclear issues and reasons behind them. With the help of internet survey within the members of Nuclear Society of Slovenia the opinions of Slovenian nuclear experts were collected. Especial emphasize was devoted to the consequence of existing experts’ opinions regarding communication with lay public. Survey contain questions about different aspects of lay public knowledge and understanding of nuclear issues, ways of communication with the public, attitudes toward public participation in the decision processes, perception of the experts’ role in the process, etc. Download the results of the conference.

Report on Defects in Doel 3 and Tihange 2 (2014)

Report “Defects in the Reactor Pressure Vessels of Doel 3 and Tihange 2″, new scientific study into problems at Belgian nuclear reactors Doel 3 and Tihange 2 (Belgium).

In 2012, due to the discovery of numerous flaws in the reactor pressure vessels, these two reactors had to be switched off for several months. In 2013, both reactors were restarted but then on 26 March of this year were unexpectedly shut down again. Other urgent safety questions concerning the two reactors remain unanswered.

Defects in the Reactor Pressure Vessels of Doel 3 and Tihange 2

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