Context
This working group on nuclear power plants focuses on transparency and safety issues surrounding nuclear power plants. It assesses risks for the population from operation, lifetime extensions / long term operation (LTO) / periodic safety reviews (PSR), and decommissioning of nuclear power installations. It follows procedures for construction, operation, lifetime extension and decommissioning, as well as the structures set up to oversee safety, including nuclear regulatory systems. It focuses on issues of transparency (access to information, public participation and access to justice) and the role of citizens in assessing, overseeing and addressing nuclear risks. A sub-working group concentrates on the introduction of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs).
In 2024, the WG NPPs supported NTW members in issues around lifetime extension of NPPs in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, especially public participation within these procedures under the Aarhus and Espoo Conventions. It also supported local initiatives in preparation procedures for new nuclear builds in the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia.
In 2025, the WG NPPs wants to set up more systematic work on different issues in the form of regular bi-monthly calls to share experiences, and where necessary pool expertise to respond to public participation challenges in strategic environmental assessments (SEA) and environmental impact assessments (EIA) for nuclear lifetime extensions and new construction.
In January 2025, NTW is planning together with the European Commission and ENSREG a Round Table on the implementation of the Nuclear Safety Directive, especially the relation between transparency and the regulatory system.
NTW intends to critically follow the activities of the SMR Industrial Alliance and intervene in national and local debates around the introduction of SMRs.
Nuclear Power Plants ageing
82% of the European nuclear reactors are today over 30 years old. All European nuclear regulators and utilities are facing problems linked to this ageing of the fleet, which should be broadly understood as the physical degradation of structures, system and components (SSC) as well as the obsolescence of technologies, design, and losses in the transmission of human know-how. Next to that, operators and regulators need to be aware of changes in the environment: over the lifetime of a nuclear power station, population densities around the power station change, as do economic activities and protected natural values, and hence the potential impact of nuclear incidents and accidents.
Technical ageing directly impacts the operational lifetime of nuclear facilities, one of the two key challenges (with nuclear waste) identified by the European Commission in its Strategic Energy Technology Plan. In this framework, the Commission implemented new nuclear safety objectives in the amendment to the original Euratom nuclear safety directive [1] so that plant life-time extension does not expose the workers and the public to additional risks.
For their part, civil society organisations have taken the topic of ageing and its impacts on safety in hand, pressing the signatory states of the Espoo Convention and the Aarhus Convention to formulate obligations for public participation in decisions concerning lifetime extensions of nuclear power stations. They have expressed concerns in many reports as well as in viewpoints in environmental impact assessments that were carried out as a result. NTW strives to organise ongoing discussions on the issue with the European Commission, Members of the European Parliament, nuclear regulators and members of civil society, in order to increase the transparency of the reflections already taking place.
[1] Directive 2014/87/Euratom amended Directive 2009/71/Euratom establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety.