Nuclear accidents: The Netherlands is found ‘underprepared’ by the Safety Board (Video Inside!)
With their recent report, the Dutch Safety Board (OVV) has advised the Netherlands to improve its cooperation with Belgium and Germany be more prepared for a potential nuclear accident. They also mentioned that a possible accident could impact all three neighbouring nations.
The report was commissioned because of the safety concerns over Belgian nuclear plants Doel and Borssele. Both plants are over 40 years old and in a densely populated area just across the Dutch-Belgian border. But these plants are not the only ones: Germany’s Emsland nuclear power plant was also in the papers.
Some of OVV’s points were about the “cross-border cooperation in a number of areas” that has to be improved, “so that parties are better prepared for the eventuality of a nuclear accident,” .
To add, the OVV also stated that the authorities need to “pay greater attention to society’s concerns,” in their 193-page report published in Dutch and English. They pointed out that it was “remarkable that the Dutch central government has until recently paid very little attention” to providing “information to the public about the potential consequences of a nuclear accident,”.
In June 2016, the Tihange 2 nuclear reactor, which is located close to German city of Aachen, was automatically shut down after a motor failure. That was just one in a series of incidents that has happened in the recent years. These were also the main reason behind the Dutch MPs push for the closure of the two Belgian plants.
The OVV insisted, however, that the risk of any nuclear accident was “small” due to “stringent safety requirements.” adding that the report “didn’t focus on whether the nuclear power plants are safe,” but on how all the countries worked together.
The conclusion? The Netherlands needs to improve cooperation with Belgium and Germany to be properly prepared for any possible nuclear accidents.
Our opinion: Reassuring? Certainly not.
Here’s a video about it:
