An age-old issue is that of nuclear waste, the disposal of which has been under discussion for decades. 7.000 cubic meters of waste are produced every year by 143 European plants, many of which are often “packaged and shipped” to other countries, where their disposal is not always safe and in the sunlight. Today nuclear power suffers another low blow and its waste ends up in the crosshairs of the European Parliament, which voted on a proposal for a directive to ban the exports of nuclear waste to third countries
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
An age-old issue is that of nuclear waste, the disposal of which has been under discussion for decades. They are well 7.000 cubic meters the waste produced each year by 143 European power plants, many of which are often "packaged and shipped" to other countries, where their disposal does not always take place safely and in the sunlight. Today nuclear power takes another low blow and its waste ends up in the crosshairs of the European Parliament, which has voted a proposal for a directive for Vban exports of nuclear waste to third countries.
According to the proposal, each Member State should, in fact, "develop policies and programs to ensure that spent fuel and radioactive waste are treated and disposed of safely".
With the parrot I vote in Plenary MEPs have chosen not to support the Energy Committee's proposal, which would have authorized European countries to export waste to another state only through a bilateral agreement, rejecting the amendment with 311 votes in favor, 328 against and 7 abstentions.
The European Parliament also supported the S&D Group's proposal of allow export of waste for recycling only and only on condition that they are subsequently re-imported into the EU. THE Verdi instead, they suggested to authorize exports only within the EU and only if in small quantities, while the GUE / ALE group asked for a complete ban on exports, even within the European Union.
Romana Jordan Cizelj, supporter of the resolution, expressed his satisfaction: “the European Parliament has repeatedly asked for a directive on the treatment of radioactive waste and spent fuel and the events in Fukushima have shown that we were right to do so. We believe in this directive and we want it to be stronger and clearer ”.
But great news will also come on the front of burial at great depths, indicated by the Commission as the "safest option": Parliament supported the idea of intensifying the search for alternatives. Evidently it wasn't such a safe choice ...
In short, we are not faced with a final solution, but certainly the Parliament's decisions represent a good step forward in matters of safety. But also a big problem for all those companies that had identified a solution for their disposal in the export of waste, such as Areva and Edf who ship most of the French spent nuclear fuels in Russia.
One wonders how they will do it and what solutions they will adopt since no European citizen wants to have a radioactive waste bin close to home. They will perhaps store them under Veronesi's pillow
Roberta Ragni
