Stress Tests in Romania

Progress report of the nuclear regulator

The Romanian national progress report on the EU Stress Test is available under:
http://www.ensreg.eu/documents - reports

The comments of the Romanian NGO Terra Mileniul III (member of the Joint Project) from Oct. 2011 are available here (pdf, 84 KB).

Questions to the nuclear regulator

Romanian NGO Terra Mileniul II sent the following questions concerning Stress Tests to the romanian Nuclear regulatory authority in June 2011:

Questions

  1. Which new scenarios which were excluded until now but after Fukushima proved to be realistic, do you ask the operator to assess? Please give us data on the new demands concerning natural disasters (flooding, extreme cold, extreme heat, snow, ice, storms, tornados, heavy rain and other extreme natural conditions.
  2. Aircraft crash: Will you demand a deterministic assessment of an aircraft crash? Which criteria will the plant have to prove to withstand?
  3. Will the seismic design basis be re-evaluated, which we consider crucial?
  4. How long is the plant able to control shut-down and cooling of the reactor and the spent fuel storage pool without external support if ultimate heat sink and power supply are not available due to external impact?
  5. Which are the responsible authorities in our country to take care of the part “terrorist attacks”?
  6. How will the public be informed about the conduct and the outcome of the tests?
  7. Will there be a seminar/workshop for NGO and independent experts while the stress tests are being conducted, e.g. in late August or September to discuss the results?

Answers
Romania NGO Terra Mileniul only got the answer to the questions after threatening with a law-suit.

Romanian nuclear regulator CNCAN gave a short reply stating:

  • that they started the re-evaluation procedures even before the Commission’s request.
  • the deadlines of the stress tests (which had already been in the letter of Terra Mileniul)
  • that the terrorist attacks and airplane crash scenarios are not the object of the current re-evaluation,
  • that Terra Mileniul II should wait until October, when the operators’ reports will be done
  • that the final results (the national report) will be discussed in a meeting with representatives of “relevant institutions” and some other organizations which show interest on the topic.

In December 2011 Tera Mileniul II sent another set of questions (see section "Public Participation in Stress Tests"). As they did not get any answer right away the NGO asked again in January 2012, the Regulatos´s office replied that the questions asked were answered in the Final Stress Test Reports which wre out by that time.