Statement of the VGB Scientific Advisory Board on the Events in Japan

30 professors of energy technology and power plant engineering from Europe who make up the VGB Scientific Advisory Board and who are giving advice to the technical association VGB PowerTech, are calling for an objective and factual discussion about the events taking place in Japan and their effects on European nuclear power plants.

30 professors of energy technology and power plant engineering from Europe who make up the VGB Scientific Advisory Board and who are giving advice to the technical association VGB PowerTech, are calling for an objective and factual discussion about the events taking place in Japan and their effects on European nuclear power plants.

Before resetting energy policy it is required to analyse the Japanese events systematically according to the latest state of science and technology. Therefore, hasty conclusions are not to be drawn for German and European reactors.

The Scientific Advisory Board is also astonished about the current public and political discussion that is taking place in Germany without having detailed knowledge about the Japanese situation.

German nuclear power plants are operated at highest safety level that is being acknowledged internationally. Albeit the VGB Scientific Advisory Board outlined in its 2010 statement Power Plants (PP) 2020+ - Power Plant Options for the Future and the related demand for research necessary advancements in safety for plants generating electricity involving all energy conversion systems.

The VGB Scientific Advisory Board offers to bring in its expertise in the scientific and public discussion.

VGB PowerTech e.V. is the European technical association for electricity and heat generation with domicile in Essen, Germany. 485 VGB members from 35 countries represent power plant capacity amounting to 520,000 MW, 461,000 MW of which at sites in Europe.