Green EP leader Rebecca Harms to visit Japan

Rebecca Harms, Co-President of the Greens in the European parliament, will visit Japan from 8 to 15 January. She will be accompanied by Gueorgui Kastchiev, former chief of the Bulgarian nuclear surveillance authority. Ms Harms was invited on this trip by the Japanese NGOs Green Action and e-shift.

The core issue of the visit will be the question of whether the EU nuclear stress tests can be used as an example for the necessary evaluation of the security of Japanese nuclear plants after the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima. According to official sources, the Japanese authorities want to use the European stress tests as a benchmark for their tests. Japan has soon to decide which nuclear power plants will be allowed to continue operating. Currently only 6 out of 54 reactors are operating.

A study commissioned by the Greens in the European Parliament - "The European 'Stress test' for Nuclear Power Plants" - has demonstrated that the criteria applied for the European stress tests are not sufficient to ensure security of the plants.

Rebecca Harms and Gueorgui Kastchiev will present the study on the EU stress tests in Tokyo, Osaka and the Island of Shikoku and will discuss the question of nuclear security.

On 13 January, Rebecca Harms will visit Fukushima and on the following day will participate in the "Global Conference for a Nuclear Free World" in Yokohama."

Relevant studies and documents on nuclear for download:

• The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2010-11 (study - April 2011)
  
  • Japanese version: The European 'stress test' for nuclear power plants (study - October 2011)
• The Vision scenario for the European Union (study - January 2011)
• Beyond the myth (study - December 2008)
• The residual risk (study - May 2007)
• TORCH - The other report on Chernobyl (study - April 2006)