Nuclear safety

Supporting nuclear safety through proper operating conditions, preventing accidents, and mitigating against any potentially harmful consequences to protect people and the environment is a priority for the European Commission, not only within the EU but also beyond. 

Nuclear operators, under the supervision of national nuclear safety regulators, are responsible for the safety of their nuclear installations within the legal framework set in the Euratom Nuclear Safety Directive (2009/71/Euratom).

The directive established a community framework for the safety of nuclear installations. It was amended in 2014, following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, under Directive 2014/87/Euratom.

The Nuclear Safety Directive 

• strengthens the powers and independence of the relevant regulatory authorities
• sets out a nuclear safety objective to prevent accidents, mitigate the consequences if an accident does occur and avoid accidental radioactive releases
• increases transparency by providing public information from regulatory authorities and licence holders on normal operating conditions, incidents and accidents
• provides opportunities for public participation in the decision-making related to the licensing of nuclear installations
• calls for an initial installation-specific assessment, supplemented by Periodic Safety Reviews, at least every 10 years
• enacts specific requirements for accident management and on-site emergency preparedness and response 
• requires periodic national self-assessments of EU countries' national framework and regulatory authorities at least once every 10 years
• sets up a European system of topical peer reviews as of 2017 and at least every 6 years thereafter

National implementation reports

The Nuclear Safety Directive (2009/71/Euratom) requires that EU countries submit national reports to the Commission on its implementation, as of 22 July 2014 and every 3 years thereafter. They should demonstrate how countries are addressing the directive’s obligations by illustrating the approaches taken at national level. 

Based on the 2014 reports, pursuant to the directive, the Commission submitted on 18 November 2015 the first progress report and a staff working document on the directive’s implementation to the Council and the European Parliament.

The amendment to the Nuclear Safety Directive (2014/87/Euratom) modified the above reporting obligation by requiring that EU countries submit the second round of national reports by 22 July 2020. Based on these reports, the Commission published in April 2022 the second and final progress report, together with a Staff Working Document (SWD/2022/107), on the directive’s implementation, which has been passed to the Council and European Parliament.

The national reports submitted in the 2014 and 2020 reporting cycles are available in country-specific folders.

Topical peer reviews

Cooperation between EU countries can provide added value in terms of nuclear safety, transparency and openness towards stakeholders. The amended directive introduced a European system of topical peer reviews (TPRs) to take place at least every 6 years to facilitate cooperation. 

The European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) identified ageing management of nuclear power plants and large research reactors as the subject for the first TPR in 2017-2018 and prepared an action plan, based on the findings, outlining key actions at both EU and national level. Accordingly, EU countries published their TPR National Action Plans in September 2019, updated them in 2021 and the progress made was described in a summary report by ENSREG in November 2021. At the end of 2023, the participating countries submitted further updates on their implementation of the TPR National Action Plans (NAcP) and ENSREG prepared a second (and final) summary report on progress to date. As with the stress tests, there will be no further summary reports on the first TPR, however ENSREG will continue to follow and report on those countries that have still have open actions until their NAcPs are closed.

The TPR 2023-2024 reviews fire-protection at nuclear installations. Experts from the 22 participating countries reviewed the national assessment reports and discussed their findings at workshops with national regulators and licensees. The outcomes in the form of good practices, EU-level challenges and areas for improvement will be described in an overall summary report and individual country review reports.

More information about the TPRs is available on the ENSREG website. 

European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group

The group, referred to as ENSREG, is an independent, expert advisory group that was created in 2007.

It is composed of senior officials from the national nuclear safety, radioactive waste safety or radiation protection regulatory authorities and senior civil servants with competence in these fields from all EU countries and from the Commission.

ENSREG’s role is to help to establish the conditions for continuous improvement and to reach a common understanding in the areas of nuclear safety and radioactive waste management.

International cooperation

The EU advances global nuclear safety through bilateral and multilateral cooperation with countries outside the EU and through close cooperation with relevant international organisations.

International Atomic Energy Agency

On nuclear safety, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) promotes a strong and sustainable global nuclear safety and security framework to protect people, society and the environment from the harmful effects of ionising radiation. 

The EU supports the IAEA both through financing and technical expertise in the area of nuclear safety. An updated EU-IAEA Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 2022. 

Nuclear Energy Agency

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) supports member countries in ensuring high nuclear enegry safety standards through effective and efficient regulation and oversight of nuclear installations, and by helping to maintain and advance scientific and technological knowledge. 

The Commission supports this work by participating in NEA’s biannual Steering Committee and contributing to various NEA technical committees, working groups and expert groups.

Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation

Under the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation of the EU and Euratom, the Commission contributes to the improvement of nuclear safety in countries outside the EU. An example is the EU's flagship environmental programme for Central Asia to remediate former uranium legacy sites. 

Euratom has bilateral nuclear cooperation agreements with Argentina, Australia, Canada, Japan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and the U.S.

In response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, risk and safety assessments (EU stress tests), were carried out on all EU nuclear power plants, including the UK which was still a member of the EU at the time. Switzerland and Ukraine also participated fully. The Commission has since encouraged and cooperated with nuclear regulators around the world to perform similar exercises. After the completion of the EU stress tests, ENSREG coordinated stress tests for nuclear power plants in other near neighbours, such as Armenia, Belarus and Türkiye.

The aim of the tests was to check whether the safety standards used when specific power plants received their licences were sufficient to cover unexpected, extreme events like earthquakes, flooding, terrorist attacks or aircraft collisions.

National action plans

According to the EU stress tests, the safety standards of European nuclear power plants proved generally high, but further improvements were recommended. As a follow-up, nuclear regulators set up national action plans, which were peer-reviewed by experts from EU countries and the Commission.

Although the implementation of the stress tests recommendations is a national responsibility, the Commission is committed to supporting EU countries and follows the implementation of national action plans closely, together with ENSREG, which issued summary reports on the status and completion of the National Action Plans (NAcP) in 2019, 2021 and 2024. No further summary reports are planned, however ENSREG will continue to follow and report on those countries that still have open actions, until their NAcPs are closed.

• ​​​​​​Assessment by Member State on nuclear safety (SWD/2015/244)
• EU stress tests specifications (2011)

• EU-IAEA energy cooperation
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
• European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG)
• Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA)
• Report: Resilience of the nuclear sector in Europe in the face of pandemic risks (2022)
• Study: Project Analysis to support the implementation in practice of Articles 8a-8c of Directive 2014/87/Euratom (2021)
• Leaflet: Nuclear safety: Our common interest (2018)
• Amended Directive on Nuclear Safety (2014/87/Euratom)
• Commission report on the stress tests (COM/2012/0571)
• Technical summary on the implementation of stress tests (SWD/2012/0287)
• Consolidated version of the Nuclear Safety Directive