Revision nuclear safety directive - Council agrees to include subcontractors

(16 June 2014) Following the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, the stress tests and public concern the European Commission came forward with proposals to improve nuclear safety in Europe. It proposed a number of amendments that would improve monitoring and reporting.
EPSU and affiliates had stressed that the revision needed to clarify that the responsibility for health and safety for subcontractors is with the operators.

A number of accidents during the construction of nuclear power stations and the high level of risks for workers maintaining and repairing nuclear power stations were the basis for this demand. The Energy Council has approved this on 11 June 2014. It is a major success for EPSU and affiliates with members in the nuclear industry which raised the profile of the problems with subcontracted workers.

We further secured that there needs to be sufficient and skilled staff and investment in training and education. The directive also ensures more transparency is provided by the operators and strengthens the obligations for the controlling bodies and including on the withdrawal of the license. The directive needs to be transposed into national legislation. Unions can use this to clarify their concerns. For the full text.

These changes are also a success for the European social dialogue electricity in which the social partners took position on nuclear safety.