Investigation launched into nuclear plants safety concerns

The Dutch Safety Board launched an investigation into how the Netherlands is working together with neighboring countries to prevent and manage incidents at nuclear power plants that could have cross-border implications. A number of incidents especially at the Belgian Doel plants is causing increasing safety concerns, NU.nl reports. The Safety Board wants to find out how the Netherlands and Belgium can best work together in making decisions about and having supervision over the nuclear power plants, specifically the plants Borssele in the Netherlands and Doel and Tihange in Belgium. The Board will also look into what information is exchanged and how neighboring countries can prepare to deal with possible accidents. This investigation will not focus on the safety of the nuclear power plants themselves, but rather how prepared the neighboring countries are in dealing with possible incidents. Earlier this month the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, urged the government to join a call from Germany and Luxembourg on Belgium to close the Doel and Tihange nuclear plants. Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen of Infrastructure and Environment recently responded that she saw no reason to rally behind this call - there is no legal basis to close the plants. The responsibility of supervising nuclear power plants and monitoring their safety rests with the Dutch Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection, the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control in Belgium and the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency.