Statement on behalf of DG Energy

Transcription

1 Statement on behalf of DG Energy Mr Gerassimos Thomas, Deputy Director-General, Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission 20 YEARS OF RADIATION MONITORING DATA EXCHANGE IN EUROPE Brussels, 23 November 2015 Mr Director-General, Ladies and Gentlemen, On behalf of the European Commission Directorate-General Energy, I welcome you to this event celebrating the 20 th anniversary of the radiation data exchange between European countries. I would also like to thank the Joint Research Centre for this opportunity to share my thoughts with you and for taking the initiative to organise this event. <Nuclear energy in the EU> In today's Europe it is hard to imagine a more controversial and critical policy area than energy. The EU has recently designed an Energy Union, which aims at bringing about a fundamental transition in Europe's energy system. The objective is to decarbonise our economy and to launch a re-design of the European electricity market. Energy Union ensures secure, sustainable and competitive energy to all consumers. Energy should flow freely, without any barriers, in a truly integrated EU-wide energy system. Nuclear energy will continue to play an important role in those Member States that decide to pursue using it or embark on this option. Therefore the EU should ensure that it maintains technological leadership in the nuclear domain so as not to increase energy and technology dependence. The EU legal basis for nuclear matters - the Euratom Treaty - is old, but certainly not out of date. It provides a framework for development of a safe nuclear industry and for other activities using radioactive materials. The priority is to support the development of the most advanced technologies in order to maintain the highest level 1

2 of safety in nuclear reactors and to improve efficiency in operation, in the back end of the fuel cycle and in decommissioning. <Nuclear activities of ENER D and interconnection to radiation safety> Improving nuclear emergency preparedness is one of the priorities of the current Luxembourg EU presidency. Directorate-General Energy supports this process and aims at ensuring the highest possible safety standards when using nuclear energy, along with excellent level of radiation safety. In the post-fukushima environment the Commission has together with the Member States carried out a reassessment of safety and emergency preparedness in nuclear power plants in the EU. Alongside, the European nuclear safety requirements and the radiation protection regulations have been revised. The new Basic Safety Standards Directive modernises and consolidates the European radiation protection legislation and takes into account recent international recommendations and standards. Once fully implemented, the revised Standards will bring the highest level of protection of workers, patients and the general public across Europe. It will also foster improvement in emergency preparedness and response regimes across Europe and lead to better coordination and co-operation between Member States. <Role of DG ENER in crisis management> Radiation protection of the population is one of the key requirements of the Euratom Treaty. Protecting both workers and the general public from harmful effects of radiation is an absolute requirement of any nuclear activity. It goes without saying that a major nuclear emergency anywhere is always an international crisis, which the EU cannot ignore. The Fukushima accident demonstrated that even if the physical consequences of a nuclear accident are geographically limited, the consequences on international trade and energy policy are global. Keeping this in mind, the Directorate-General Energy maintains 24 hour preparedness arrangements in order to respond to a nuclear or radiological emergency anywhere in the world. Although protecting the European population in such an event is a responsibility of the Member States, the Commission is responsible for ensuring urgent arrangements for information exchange and EU 2

3 level support if the Member State resources are overwhelmed. The Commission can in the event of an emergency also lay down specific regulations protecting the food and feed market. In addition it supports significant research in this field, in particular new solutions for information exchange, environment monitoring and decision support systems. We must not forget that a nuclear emergency is always a multisectorial crisis. It affects the normal functioning of the society in many ways, some of which may be unpredictable. That is why in such an event there are arrangements to activate not only the emergency team of DG Energy, but also the crisis management arrangements of other services, in particular DG Health and Food Safety, DG Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection and DG Migration and Home Affairs. It has been a satisfaction to see how well these services have during the last few years integrated the radiation emergency issues in their operational procedures and exercises. <Co-operation with the IAEA in emergency preparedness and response> The focal point of international nuclear emergency preparedness arrangements is the International Atomic Energy Agency. There is a long history of co-operation between the IAEA and the European Commission in nuclear emergency preparedness work. We have been very pleased to see how the IAEA Incident and Emergency Centre has developed during the last 15 years into a very impressive operational centre of expertise. It was able to provide essential support to the Japanese government during the Fukushima crisis. We were also impressed with the amount of work the centre did to keep us informed about the situation in Japan during the crisis. Recently the centre organised a global conference on emergency preparedness and response. I wish to compliment the IAEA for this initiative. This was a highly successful event, which brought together the international emergency preparedness community to analyse the Fukushima accident and to learn the lessons. 3

4 <History of EURDEP> As you are well aware of, several EU Member States have chosen to use nuclear energy for electricity production. This choice comes with a responsibility to do it as safely as possible and to pay particular attention to radiological consequences. The European Commission is continuously working to ensure that nuclear energy is safe and that its use does not lead to a significant increase in public radiation doses. In Europe the memory of the Chernobyl accident is fading, but it will not disappear from the minds of the people working in nuclear emergency preparedness. In the aftermath of this tragic accident it was recognised that a nuclear accident may have radiological consequences extending far beyond the accident location. There is therefore a need to exchange radiological information internationally on a continuous basis. The key to maintaining confidence in authorities among the general public is the provision of accurate and up-to-date information from the moment the accident occurs. The European Radiological Data Exchange Platform was developed by the European Union to meet this need. It allows radiological monitoring data from most European countries to be available in almost real-time. <Co-operation between DG Energy and DG JRC> The development of this platform has been a joint undertaking of DGs JRC and Energy. Over 20 years, the system has evolved from a limited exchange of radiation dose rate data to a sophisticated on-line system, which today includes a graphical user interface allowing users of the system to have a complete overview of the current radiation situation in Europe. It should be emphasised that the system is not only for the use of authorities it includes also a section accessible to the general public. <Role of the EU Member States> EURDEP is fundamentally a service of the European Union to its Member States therefore it is vital that the Member States are involved in the development of the system. This aspect has been particularly successful. During the entire existence of the system the Commission has been supported by a group of experts from the 4

5 participating States. The Commission is grateful for this long-term commitment. This group has always been very well attended by its members. It has not only provided vital support and assistance to the Commission on developmental issues, but also given direction to the improvement, resulting in a more practical system that can be used on-line without extensive training. <Role of non-eu states> The main principle of EURDEP has always been that countries providing data receive, in return, access to all the data provided by other countries. Therefore the more countries participating, the more useful the system becomes. To this end the Commission has always kept the EURDEP door open to new members. Today we can - with great satisfaction - note that the system receives data from almost every country in Europe. The Commission aims at complete continental coverage. It offers membership to every European country. Those few countries not yet providing data are more than welcome to join. <IAEA involvement in radiation data exchange> Obviously, having a data exchange system covering Europe raises the question: Why not create a global system? In the post-fukushima world the need for such an application is easy to justify and technical solutions are readily available. The Commission has addressed this question. It has been agreed that EURDEP technology may be made available to the International Atomic Energy Agency for a global network and the Commission will support such initiative. The Commission and the IAEA have agreed on the modalities of cooperation and the Commission remains committed to continue providing EURDEP expertise free of charge to the IAEA. It is with pleasure that I have noted the recent collaboration with the IAEA in order to expand the use of this technology to other parts of the world. It is very important to bring a global radiation monitoring data exchange system to an operational level as soon as possible. The Commission will be happy to continue the collaboration with the IAEA in order to achieve this. 5

6 <Future of EURDEP> The recently published IAEA Director-Generals' report on the Fukushima Daiichi accident is an excellent document to understand the accident and its consequences. It gives important recommendations also for emergency preparedness. One of these is that arrangements need to be in place to assist decision makers, the public and others to gain an understanding of radiological health hazards in a nuclear emergency in order to take informed decisions on protective actions. Arrangements also need to be in place to address public concerns locally, nationally and internationally. This is something the Commission wishes to support by not only developing information exchange systems but also by trying to make their data content easier to use and understand. I am convinced that, with the assistance of today's fascinating internet technology, EURDEP has a bright future. It will bring the results of continuous radiation monitoring in Europe to every screen, be it mobile or fixed. Having said that, I would also like to point out that the system is far from complete. There is a lot to do in harmonising the quality of data received from different countries and in making sure that all countries are able to focus their monitoring resources correctly on the day the accident happens. It is up to each participating state to keep their monitoring systems in good shape and to make sure that the flow of information continues undisturbed. The Commission will ensure that the public and authority sections of the system both remain available on a 24-hour basis. The Commission will also continue developing the system. I am sure the colleagues at the JRC REM group and the IAEA already have exciting new EURDEP ideas in mind. <Conclusion> Mr Director-General, Ladies and Gentlemen, In a domain as critical as radiation safety, a highly interdependent global community needs common understanding and a dynamic and close co-operation. In the event of an emergency, even if the actual radiation plume stays far beyond your national borders, it is vital for 6

7 you to have the tools to monitor the radiation situation in order to be able to reassure the general public. The continuous monitoring of environmental radiation remains one of the most important requirements of the Euratom Treaty. Let me conclude by saying that the Commission is eager to share the experience in radiation monitoring which the European Union has gained over the past 20 years and, indeed, to offer it as an inspiration and as a model for other regions of the world. I hope that this event will be another successful step towards achieving this ambitious but necessary goal. Thank you for your attention. 7