About Euratom

CEOC Conference, EU Energy Policy – „New Challenges for Third Party Inspection and Certification Bodies“, 30.05.2011

Piotr SZYMANSKI, Director Nuclear Safeguards

DG ENERGY, European Commission

• Purpose of this presentation

• Treaties: foundation of the EU

• Euratom Treaty and examples of its application– Nuclear safeguards– Nuclear safety

• EU response to Fukushima accident -

nuclear power plants stress tests

Overview

• Remind you about the EU legal basis to help in following current developments

• Tell (remind) you about the Euratom Treaty

• Show examples of the Commission‘s work in the nuclear field

Purpose of this presentation

Multinational integration process :Independent entities (e.g. states)

throughVoluntary binding measures (e.g. treaties)

establishCommon institutions (e.g. Commission) to

develop Common policies (e.g. on energy)

pursuingCommon goals and serving common interests

(e.g. protect the environment)

Integration – what does it mean?

▲ European Communities ▲

Western European Union (WEU)

1948 1952 1958 1967 1987

Brussels Paris Rome Brussels SEA (1948) (1952) (1958) (1967) (1987)

European Economic Community (EEC)

European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC=EURATOM)

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

EuropeanPolitical

Cooperation(EPC)

Treaties and history of the EU

WEU

1993 1999 2003 2009 …

Maastricht Amsterdam Nice Lisbon …(1993) (1999) (2003) (2009) …

European Community (EC)

European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or EURATOM)

European Coal & Steel Community (ECSC)

European Union (EU)Justice & Home Affairs

(JHA)Police & Judicial co-operation

in criminal matters (PJCC)

European Union (EU)

Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)

Treaties and history of the EU

Structure of the EU

Treaty on the European Union (TEU)

EURATOM

European Union(=TEU, TFEU, Charter)

Treaty of Lisbon

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU, ex-EC)

The EU Institutions

European Parliament

Court of Justice

Court of Auditors

Economic and Social Committee Committee of the Regions

Council of Ministers(Council of the EU) European Commission

European Investment Bank European Central BankAgencies

European Council (summit)

How EU laws are made

Citizens, interest groups, experts: discuss, consult

Commission: makes formal proposal

Parliament and Council of Ministers: decide jointly

Commission and Court of Justice: monitor implementation

National or local authorities: implement

Legal framework of the European Union

The Treaty of Lisbon (signed 2007)– amends the two treaties which comprise the

constitutional basis of the European Union:• Treaty on European Union (TEU; also known as

the Maastricht Treaty)• Treaty establishing the European Community

(TEC; also known as the Treaty of Rome).

– Consists of two Treaties:

TEU and

TFEU (Treaty on Functioning of the EU)

Treaty on Functioning of European Union (TFEU)

Article 194 – Energy

“Union policy on energy shall aim…to“:

Ensure the functioning of the energy market

Ensure security of energy supply

Promote energy efficiency, energy saving, development of new and renewable energy

Promote interconnection of energy networks

Treaty on Functioning of EuropeanUnion (TFEU) – changes

Legislation by ordinary legislative procedure (= co-decision with qualified majority in Council)

Legislation of fiscal nature by special legislative procedure (= unanimity in Council)

Member States’ rights not affected to determine conditions of exploiting energy resources to choose between different energy sources and to choose the general structure of its energy supply

Article 194 – Energy

WEU

1993 1999 2003 2009 …

Maastricht Amsterdam Nice Lisbon …(1993) (1999) (2003) (2009) …

European Community (EC)

European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or EURATOM)

European Coal & Steel Community (ECSC)

European Union (EU)Justice & Home Affairs

(JHA)Police & Judicial co-operation

in criminal matters (PJCC)

European Union (EU)

Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)

Treaties and history of the EU

The EURATOM Treaty (signed 1957)

“It shall be the task of the Community to contribute

» to the raising of the standards of living in the Member States and

» to the development of relations with the other countries

by creating the conditions necessary for the speedy establishment and growth of the nuclear industries”

Legal framework of the

European Union

Protocol No.2 amending the Euratom Treaty

Preamble

„European Atomic Energy Community should continue to have full legal effect“

Art 106a

General provisions of TEU and TFEU

apply

Euratom after Lisbon: changes

Euratom after Lisbon: changes

• Separate legal entity (Art 184) • Identical institutions, budget etc with EU• Special legislative procedures continue Role of the European Parliament remains largely

advisory (no co-decision with Council), e.g. Art. 31, 32 or Art. 79 (3) Euratom Treaty

Article 31 group and Economic and Social Committee continue to be consulted

Specific tasks of EURATOMAccording to the Treaty, specific tasks are:• to promote research and ensure the

dissemination of technical information• to establish uniform safety standards to

protect the health of workers and of the general public and ensure that they are applied (Example 2)

• to facilitate investment and ensure the establishment of the basic installations necessary for the development of nuclear energy in the EU

Specific tasks of EURATOM

• to ensure that all users in the EU receive a regular and equitable supply of ores and nuclear fuels

• to make certain that civil nuclear materials are not diverted to other (particularly military) purposes (Example 1)

• to exercise the right of ownership conferred upon it with respect to special fissile materials

• to foster progress in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy by working with other countries and international organisations

• to establish joint undertakings

• Purpose of this presentation

• Treaties: foundation of the EU

• Euratom Treaty and examples of its application– Nuclear safeguards– Nuclear safety

• EU response to Fukushima accident -

nuclear power plants stress tests

Overview

Example 1: Nuclear SafeguardsTreaty requires Commission to satisfy itself that:

In the territories of Member States: …materials are not diverted from their

intended uses as declared by the users …provisions relating to safeguarding

obligations under an agreement with a Third State or an international organisation are complied with.

Exception:EURATOM Safeguards do not extend to

materials intended to meet defence requirements

Safeguards implementation - methodology

• Operator:– Provides basic technical characteristics (BTC) of the installation– Keeps operating records to permit accounting for the material– Provides accounting data to the Commission

• Commission verifies:– data consistency – coherence with records kept at the installation– data correspondence to the physical reality Verification work is done in nuclear installations, Joint Research Centre and safeguards headquarters in Luxembourg cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Safeguards implementation - inspectors

• Recruited by the Commission (Treaty art. 82)

• Have access to all places, data and persons, at all times, to the extent necessary to apply safeguards

• ~160 inspectors:

– ~1500 inspections/year

– ~4100 inspection-person-days/year

Safeguards enforcement

• If carrying-out of the inspection is opposed– Commission will submit an application to the

President of the Court of Justice who may order to perform compulsory inspection

• If an infringement is found – sanctions:– On the operator:

• warning, withdrawal of benefits, placing company under administration, withdrawal of nuclear material

– On the Member State:• Commission Directive

Example 2: Nuclear safety

• Council Directive 2009/71/Euratom of 25 June 2009 establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations

– gives binding legal forceto international safetystandards (IAEA, CNS)

– establishes nationalresponsibility fornuclear safety

– enhances independenceof regulators

– ensures continuousimprovementof safety

• Nuclear Waste Directive: revised proposal adopted by the Commission on 3 November 2010

Waste and spent fuel volumes produced in 2004

85%

5%10%

Low + Intermediate Level

Short-lived

Low Level

Long-lived

Spent

Fuel + High Level

HLW in a person‘s lifetime

Nuclear waste (including low, intermediate and high level

waste) and spent fuel volume a year in the EU is less than

100.000m3

2 football fields (staple height 7m)

• Purpose of this presentation

• Treaties: foundation of the EU

• Euratom Treaty and examples of its application– Nuclear safeguards– Nuclear safety

• EU response to Fukushima accident -

nuclear power plants stress tests

Overview

Sequence of Events in Japan

Fukushima Dai-ichi • Units 1-3 in operation, units 4-6 in maintenance and refuelling state.

• Earthquake level: 9 on Richter scale.

• Normal plant shutdown – loss of off-site electrical power supply but emergency diesel generators working as foreseen – all normal in terms of cooling the reactors and fuel pools – decay heat removal.

• Tsunami: 14 m while design basis was 6,5 m [for an historical tsunami of 5,7 m].

• Flooding of diesels and auxiliary equipment.

Flooding, Trenches, Turbine building

Source data: Fed of Electric Power Companies/VGB

EU Response, after 11 March 2011

• Commissioner Oettinger called a High Level Conference on 15 March 2011: Ministers, Nuclear Safety Authorities and Industry.

Introduction of safety "stress tests" at EU nuclear power plants

EU Response

• 16 March 2011: Council Working Group (AQG) defined a first set of criteria for “comprehensive risk and safety assessments”

• Initiating events– The seismic characteristics of the sites – The possibility of flooding– Resistance to man induced events (e.g. terrorist acts)

• Status of the facility– The type of reactor – The aging of the power plants– The technical design and features of the cooling

systems– The technical design and arrangements of the backup

systems• Emergency procedures and preparedness

• 21 March 2011: Council confirmed the approach

EU Response• 24-25 March 2011: European

CouncilEU leaders declared that the nuclear issue a top priority and stressed the need to learn the lessons from the nuclear accident.

They decided that the safety of EU nuclear plants should be reviewed in risk and safety assessments, the so-called "stress tests".

The Commission will ensure that the test modalities are defined as soon as possible and the tests carried out.

Nuclear particles know no borders. That is why neighbouring countries should be encouraged to do similar stress tests. "A worldwide review of nuclear plants would be best," said Herman Van Rompuy."

• 25 May 2011: Stress tests announced– Start: 1 June – Licensee report (15.08, 31.10)– National report (15.09, 31.12)– European Commission report to the EU Council

(9.12, June 2012)– Peer review of national reports (by 04.2012)

Stress tests - timeframe

– Transparency• National reports - public (in accordance to legislation)• Results of peer reviews - public

– The Commission is working to extend the assessments to other countries, in particular those neighbours operating nuclear installations: Switzerland, the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Armenia.

Stress tests – cont.

Targeted reassessment of nuclear power plant safety margins:– response to set of extreme situations– preventive and mitigative measures following

defence-in-depth logic

To evaluate:– robustness of defence-in-depth approach– adequacy of accident management measures

To identify – Potential for safety improvements

Stress tests - cont

Thank you for your attention