Pilar del Castillo Vera (MEP) and Romana Jordan (MEP) 

"Stress testing should be considered as an ongoing effort to ensure a strong nuclear safety culture in Europe. The EPP Group welcomes the extensive work the Commission has done. On one hand, the report does not indicate any severe safety risk requiring the closure of reactors; on the other hand it identifies safety gaps in extreme external events, such as earthquakes and floods. There is a lack of preparedness and response capacity in a number of installations. This is a problem we have to address", said Pilar del Castillo Vera MEP, EPP Group Coordinator in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) of the European Parliament.

The European Union took precautionary measures and carried out widespread safety tests on its 134 nuclear reactors. The so-called stress tests were conducted by the European Commission in cooperation with the regulatory bodies as a response to Japan's Fukushima incident.

The European Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger, will present the nuclear stress test report to the ITRE Committee tomorrow, 4 October.

"In light of the Commission's report, the legal framework has to be reinforced, as well as the self-organisation of the EU's nuclear energy sector. We should particularly focus on transparency, the cooperation between regulators and with the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group. A proper safety framework and culture should aim to be the most ambitious worldwide so as to ensure that nuclear energy can play its future role in a competitive low-carbon EU economy", said Romana Jordan MEP, EPP Group Vice-Coordinator in the ITRE Committee.

Based on the results of the stress tests, the Nuclear Safety Directive will be revised in 2013 to include ambitious but reasonable minimum standards. This should include provisions such as on-site emergency preparedness and response, strong and independent regulatory bodies, as well as policies to ensure the availability of a skilled and experienced workforce.