Stress tests on nuclear power stations in the European Union will start in June, EU president Hungary announced Wednesday, following an informal meeting of European energy ministers this week.
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| EU Commissioner for Energy Gunther Hermann Oettinger is seen during the informal council meeting of EU energy ministers at the Riding Arena of the Royal Palace in Godollo on May 3. |
"The stress tests on European nuclear plants will be launched in June," the government announced on its website, citing European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, who took part in the meeting outside Budapest that ended Tuesday.
The tests, the results of which are expected in December, have to be "objective and severe", Oettinger said.
The exact criteria of the tests -- which will probably consist of six points -- will be defined next week in Brussels, he added.
The stress tests are to examine the effects of an earthquake or tsunami on nuclear plants, in the wake of the recent disaster in Japan, but whether the hypothesis of a plane crashing into a power station will also be examined had not yet been decided, Hungary said.
The German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung has said the stress tests will only deal with natural catastrophe scenarios, triggering a complaint Wednesday from Austria\'s Enviromment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich.
Not studying the eventuality of man-made incidents such as cyber attacks, terrorism or plane crashes was a major flaw, Berlakovich told the Austria Press Agency.
He also criticised the relative freedom with which the stress tests would be carried out.
"Unfortunately, the heads of state and government did not decide to make them mandatory," he said, insisting also that the tests be conducted by independent experts.
"It makes no sense if the nuclear plants test themselves," he said, after the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said nuclear plant operators would be able to make their own reports to the European Commission.
Berlakovich added he was counting on Oettinger to make the tests stricter.