EU urges Slovakia to beef up nuclear plant safety

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

BRUSSELS, July 15 (Reuters) - The European Commission recommended on Tuesday that Slovakia improve the safety of two planned new units at its Mochovce nuclear power plant.

"Even though the project shows compliance with current national regulations as well as international recommendations ... the Commission recommended a set of additional measures," Commission spokesman Ferran Tarradellas Espuny told a briefing.

Those measures would ensure that the Soviet-designed planned reactors would be as safe as more modern ones that have "full containment" structure.

They would protect the units, for example, from "malevolent small aircraft impact," he said.
Under EU law, the bloc's executive European Commission makes non-binding recommendations about safety at planned nuclear plants in the 27-nation region.

Slovakia plans to commission the reactors, with a power capacity of 440 MW each, in 2012-13 at a cost of 1.6 billion euros ($2.55 billion).

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