Abstract
In March 2011, the core melt accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi 1 nuclear power plant (NPP) showed the world that the nuclear industry cannot prevent severe accidents from happening. The accidents in Japan proved that highly unlikely accidents cannot be excluded. The Fukushima accident confirmed the mistrust towards nuclear power among the Japanese but also European citizens. In reaction to the devastating nuclear disaster in Japan the European Council concluded in March 2011, that the safety of all EU nuclear plants should be reviewed on the basis of a comprehensive and transparent risk and safety assessment ('stress tests'). The EU Nuclear Safety Regulators Group – ENSREG took over the task to provide a “targeted reassessment of the safety margins of nuclear power plants”, thus examining whether the safety margins which were used in the licensing of NPPs are sufficient to cover unexpected events. It is important to understand that the stress tests could not take into account all key safety issues such as the capability to prevent accidents - the scope of the stress tests defined by ENSREG didn´t promise to deliver a comprehensive risk and safety assessment. According to some observers the stress tests were mainly set up to
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Citation Formats
Becker, O., Lorenz, P., and Wallner, A.
Critical Review of EU Nuclear Stress Tests in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine.
Austria: N. p.,
2012.
Web.
Becker, O., Lorenz, P., & Wallner, A.
Critical Review of EU Nuclear Stress Tests in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine.
Austria.
Becker, O., Lorenz, P., and Wallner, A.
2012.
"Critical Review of EU Nuclear Stress Tests in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine."
Austria.
@misc{etde_22551513,
title = {Critical Review of EU Nuclear Stress Tests in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine}
author = {Becker, O., Lorenz, P., and Wallner, A.}
abstractNote = {In March 2011, the core melt accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi 1 nuclear power plant (NPP) showed the world that the nuclear industry cannot prevent severe accidents from happening. The accidents in Japan proved that highly unlikely accidents cannot be excluded. The Fukushima accident confirmed the mistrust towards nuclear power among the Japanese but also European citizens. In reaction to the devastating nuclear disaster in Japan the European Council concluded in March 2011, that the safety of all EU nuclear plants should be reviewed on the basis of a comprehensive and transparent risk and safety assessment ('stress tests'). The EU Nuclear Safety Regulators Group – ENSREG took over the task to provide a “targeted reassessment of the safety margins of nuclear power plants”, thus examining whether the safety margins which were used in the licensing of NPPs are sufficient to cover unexpected events. It is important to understand that the stress tests could not take into account all key safety issues such as the capability to prevent accidents - the scope of the stress tests defined by ENSREG didn´t promise to deliver a comprehensive risk and safety assessment. According to some observers the stress tests were mainly set up to improve the confidence in the safety of European NPPs. Nevertheless, the stress tests provided some interesting findings concerning safety: This study assesses the safety of the nuclear power plants in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and the Ukraine. The introduction contains an overview of the content and procedure of the stress tests. This “Critical Review of the Stress Tests” is based on the national stress tests reports written by the national nuclear safety authorities and on the Peer review country reports attached to the Peer review report - Stress tests performed on European nuclear power plants written by the Peer review Teams, the Peer Review Board respectively, and endorsed by ENSREG [ENSREG 2012a, ENSREG 2012c]. It continues by listing the main weaknesses as identified by operators, national regulator and Peer review team and a selected range of the suggested remedial measures. Important shortcomings not mentioned in the stress tests reports are also discussed. These evaluations do not claim to be exhaustive, but the findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of safety and risk of nuclear power plants in Europe. (author)}
place = {Austria}
year = {2012}
month = {Jul}
}
title = {Critical Review of EU Nuclear Stress Tests in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine}
author = {Becker, O., Lorenz, P., and Wallner, A.}
abstractNote = {In March 2011, the core melt accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi 1 nuclear power plant (NPP) showed the world that the nuclear industry cannot prevent severe accidents from happening. The accidents in Japan proved that highly unlikely accidents cannot be excluded. The Fukushima accident confirmed the mistrust towards nuclear power among the Japanese but also European citizens. In reaction to the devastating nuclear disaster in Japan the European Council concluded in March 2011, that the safety of all EU nuclear plants should be reviewed on the basis of a comprehensive and transparent risk and safety assessment ('stress tests'). The EU Nuclear Safety Regulators Group – ENSREG took over the task to provide a “targeted reassessment of the safety margins of nuclear power plants”, thus examining whether the safety margins which were used in the licensing of NPPs are sufficient to cover unexpected events. It is important to understand that the stress tests could not take into account all key safety issues such as the capability to prevent accidents - the scope of the stress tests defined by ENSREG didn´t promise to deliver a comprehensive risk and safety assessment. According to some observers the stress tests were mainly set up to improve the confidence in the safety of European NPPs. Nevertheless, the stress tests provided some interesting findings concerning safety: This study assesses the safety of the nuclear power plants in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and the Ukraine. The introduction contains an overview of the content and procedure of the stress tests. This “Critical Review of the Stress Tests” is based on the national stress tests reports written by the national nuclear safety authorities and on the Peer review country reports attached to the Peer review report - Stress tests performed on European nuclear power plants written by the Peer review Teams, the Peer Review Board respectively, and endorsed by ENSREG [ENSREG 2012a, ENSREG 2012c]. It continues by listing the main weaknesses as identified by operators, national regulator and Peer review team and a selected range of the suggested remedial measures. Important shortcomings not mentioned in the stress tests reports are also discussed. These evaluations do not claim to be exhaustive, but the findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of safety and risk of nuclear power plants in Europe. (author)}
place = {Austria}
year = {2012}
month = {Jul}
}