FoEE Letter to EU ministers on Cernavoda II in Romania

Brussels, 28^th January 2002

Dear Minister,

We write to you regarding the upcoming decision on granting a EURATOM loan for a new nuclear reactor in Romania, Cernavoda II.

Since 1999 the European Commission has been preparing a project to grant a EURATOM loan for the construction of Cernavoda II, a new CANDU-reactor from Canada. The granting of this loan of 350 million euro to the Romanian government would be in clear violation of the Council guidelines for granting EURATOM loans to certain non-EU countries since they are not supposed to be used for the building of new reactors.

For your reference we quote the relevant Council decision of 1994 (31994D0179):

“94/179/Euratom: Council Decision of 21 March 1994 amending Decision 77/270/Euratom, to authorize the Commission to contract Euratom borrowings in order to contribute to the financing required for improving the degree of safety and efficiency of nuclear power stations in certain non- member countries“.

It seems clear that Euratom loans are to be used for safety upgrades of existing reactors and not the building of new reactors. This interpretation – that the loans are meant for older Soviet designed reactors – seems to be shared by the Commission in their new Communication, which is trying to argue the case for more EURATOM funds:

“However, especially as the issue of the safety of Soviet designed nuclear power stations becomes ever more acute, there will be pressure to further extend Euratom coverage and hence a need for increased provisioning. Potential new Euratom commitments could be in the order of € 200-300 million a year. Any further Euratom lending will also require raising the ceiling for Euratom loans which is subject to a separate legislative procedure“. (COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION - EC/EURATOM LENDING AND GUARANTEE CAPACITY FOR EXTERNAL ACTIONS. (2002) 20 final, Brussels, 21.01.2002.)

To be sure, this document does not either mention that funds would be applied to the building of new reactors.

We have received information that the EU Commission intends to present a safety report on the Cernavoda II project to the PHARE safety expert group in February 2002. All the representatives of EU member states will be asked for their approval of the project.

In light of the above-mentioned circumstances, we trust that you are not going to support the granting of a Euratom loan to be used for the building of a new reactor at Cernavoda.

Yours sincerely,

Patricia Lorenz

Friends of the Earth Europe

29, Rue Blanche

1060 Brussels

Belgium