Reply to the 12th report on the activities of the European Nuclear Energy (ENEA)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 2969See Doc. 2969, report of the Committee on Science and Technology. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 8 July 1971.
The Assembly,
1. Thanking the Council of OECD for transmitting to it the 12th annual report on the activities of the European Nuclear Energy Agency (ENEA);
2. Convinced that European reactor designs are inherently as economic and profitable as the reactor designs being developed in the United States,
3. Is persuaded that it would be regrettable if the initial commercial construction of a Dragon type of high temperature nuclear reactor, with all its promise of commercial success, were confined to the United States, bearing in mind that it was developed in Europe under ENEA auspices and that valuable research projects in analogous fields are already in progress in other European countries ;
4. Conscious that the volume of radioactive wastes which must be disposed of will inevitably grow rapidly owing to the steady increase in the level of peaceful nuclear operations in Europe, and recognising that the problem of radio-active waste management cannot be related only to the wellbeing of the present generation of human beings,0
5. Expresses its conviction that ENEA has an indispensable role to play as the only forum in which a coherent and scientifically well-balanced overall European programme for radio-active waste management can be worked out ;
6. Noting with concern the fact that the construction of nuclear power capacity in some European countries is being seriously hindered by the inability of existing power networks in those countries to absorb individual generating units providing the optimum 600 MW or more each, and conscious of the need in present conditions to accelerate nuclear power construction in Europe as a contribution to the security of Europe's energy supplies ;
7. Aware that present difficulties would be greatly diminished if, among other things, further international co-operation in the planning and development of power supply systems were promoted in Western Europe, and recalling its previous observations in this sense over the last few years, notably in
Recommendation 339 and
Resolution 448,
8. Believes it to be indispensable that the Energy Committee of OECD make a new effort to promote international cooperation along the lines outlined in the preceding paragraphs, with particular regard to the need to establish an efficient network of nuclear power stations in Europe.
