Stress tests
Following the nuclear power accident in Japan, the Council of the European Union agreed that all EU Member States were to conduct a comprehensive assessment of risk and safety, or 'stress tests', for their respective nuclear power plants.
The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority has been responsible for reviewing and reporting stress tests of Swedish nuclear power plants and Clab, the interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel.
The Authority presented a report to the Swedish Government in December 2011. The report to the Government included the results for the nuclear power plants and Clab.
The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority was subsequently assigned with submitting a national report to ENSREG containing the results of Swedish nuclear power plants' stress testing. This report was submitted.
One of the first steps involved in the stress tests was a reassessment of the pre-existing safety analysis reports of the facilities based on the experience gained following the accident in Fukushima.
This also included identifying safety margins and areas of improvement as the facilities are subjected to hypothetical disruptions beyond what they were originally designed for. This means that specific requirements have not been imposed on what the facilities must be able to withstand. Consequently, they cannot 'pass' or 'fail' the stress tests. On the other hand, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority may impose requirements on more in-depth analyses in certain areas, or demand action.
A specially appointed group of international experts, a ‘peer review team', is currently reviewing the respective countries' reports.
On 25 April 2012, the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) presented the results from these reviews in an integrated report covering all the countries.