EU members should publicize action on nuclear waste: Lords

London (Platts)--6Jul2006

EU member states should be required to set out what action they will take
on radioactive waste and publicize the results, the UK's House of Lords EU
Committee said Thursday in a report.
The report, "Managing Nuclear Safety and Waste: the role of the EU,"
looked at proposed EU legislation to harmonize the management of nuclear
safety and waste across the EU.
In addition to the call for EU member states to publicize their plans for
waste, the committee concluded that national safety standards "operate
satisfactorily within the framework of the UN?s International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) Convention on Nuclear Safety." and suggested that when member
states have been shown to have broken the convention "information on remedial
actions and their verification is made publicly available."
The report particularly focuses on the involvement of the public. "It is
difficult to justify the use of nuclear power in the EU without allaying the
public's anxieties about the ultimate fate and potential hazards from
radioactive waste," the report said.
The committee said that EU member states had been "failing to educate
their citizens about the use of nuclear power." It added that the EU should
take a lead role in "educating citizens about issues relating to nuclear
power, how the safety of nuclear installations is maintained, and of the
action taken and options available to Member States to manage the radioactive
waste produced."
The chairman of the inquiry, Lord Renton of Mount Harry, said: "If there
is to be a policy of continuing or expanding nuclear use for future
generations it must be allied to a determination by the EU to inform the
public better about how high level radioactive waste can be safely managed in
the long-term."
The Lords would not support EU legislation requiring member states to set
timetables to dispose of radioactive waste, the report said. But they "do see
a role for the EU to set a long term nuclear energy strategy," it adds.
Renton welcomed the interim report from the UK's Committee on Radioactive
Waste Management. He added: "It will be essential for the Government to build
upon CoRWM's final recommendations as a matter of urgency, and to ensure
public views feed into the policy decision taken."

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