Nuclear Safety in Europe / First Regulatory Conference

Welcome to the First Regulatory Conference

Dear friends,

It is for us a pleasure to announce the forthcoming 1st European regulatory conference on nuclear safety, to be held in Brussels on June 28th and 29th. The inaugural session of this event, which we will have the honour of chairing, will be attended by the European Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger, and the member of the European Parliament and president of the Commission for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE)of the European Parliament, Herbert Reul.

During this conference, the representatives of the European Nuclear Regulators Group (ENSREG) will exchange experiences and views of the challenges faced and achievements made to improve nuclear safety in Europe over the last 10 years, in an atmosphere of mutual trust.

The close collaboration that has existed among the regulatory authorities of the twenty-seven member States has made it possible to advance towards the development of a true European Approach to Nuclear Safety.  The progress made in harmonisation and the legal framework, in keeping with international standards and requirements, helps us to improve our work and our level of response to the requirements of the citizens of the European Union.

One of the outcomes of this joint effort is the recent Directive on Nuclear Safety, drawn up on the initiative of the European Commission.  We shall have an opportunity to talk about the development of this Directive and its transposition in the different countries in the Commission’s “Charlemagne” building, where the conference is to be held. We will also discuss the technical efforts made by the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) in the strengthening of the reference levels of existing nuclear power plants, waste and spent fuel management and safety criteria applicable to new reactors.

The events at Fukushima have once again underlined the fact the accidents know no frontiers and that we have a shared responsibility as regards the safe use of nuclear energy.  We will take the opportunity provided by the Conference to discuss in detail the consequent proposals to review the safety of EU nuclear plants.

Finally, we shall facilitate a debate on the organisation of nuclear safety in Europe with all the stakeholders: interest groups, non-governmental organisations, overseas regulatory bodies and international organisations.  Whoever is interested may follow this via a streaming service that we shall be offering live through this website.  We wish to give everybody the opportunity to follow a conference that, for reasons of space restrictions, will allow for only a limited number of attendants.

Due to space limitations, attendance is by invitation only.

Carmen Martínez Ten, President of the Conference and President of the Spanish Nuclear Safety Conference (CSN)

André-Claude Lacoste, Vice-President of the Conference and Chairperson of the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN)

Ann McGarry, Vice-President of the Conference and Chief Executive of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII)