EU finalizes criteria for nuclear stress tests

The European Union (EU) on Wednesday agreed details of criteria for conducting "stress tests" on the bloc's 143 nuclear power plants from the beginning of June.

The so-called "stress tests", which aims to avert an accident like that at Japan's Fukushima plant, will check nuclear plants for natural disasters such as earthquakes and flooding, as well as for man-made failures such as airplane crashes and explosion.

"Comparable damaging effects from terrorist attacks are also covered," however, how to prevent and resist terrorist attacks will be dealt with separately, the European Commission said in a statement.

"When it comes to terrorism activity, the stress test can't lay down anything. We in the commission will invite the member states over the next weeks. And we will ask them what authorities are competent for this sort of thing," said EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger.

The EU member states were once divided over the need to include terrorist threats as a criterion in nuclear stress tests. While Germany, Austria, backed by the commission, supported the inclusion, Britain and France opposed it for security concerns.

The final results of stress tests, which is to be completed by the end of April 2012, will be made public.

It is up to the member states to decide whether to shut down a nuclear power plant that fails in the tests and the EU has no legal power to force it.

"In case an upgrade is not technically or economically feasible, we believe reactors shall be shut down and decommissioned... results are known to the public and a government has to explain to its public why it has taken a decision or failed to act," the commission said in a statement.

In addition, Oettinger told reporters that by mid-June he would invite neighboring countries, Russia, Switzerland, Croatia, Armenia and Turkey, to take part in EU's nuclear stress tests.

In March, the EU member states agreed voluntarily to conduct stress tests in the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis, which highlighted the risks of nuclear power plants in natural disasters.

Germany has shut down seven of its oldest nuclear reactors built before 1980 for three months while conducting a safety probe.

However, France, Spain, Italy and other EU nations said they are unlikely to reduce their reliance on nuclear energy mainly due to lack of reliable alternative.

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