madam president two themes have emerged in the aftermath of the tragic events which struck japan twelve days ago
the first has been the japanese response which in terms of structural preparation in the cities the rapid response of the emergency units and the inspirational resilience shown by the japanese people has been exemplary and should serve as a template for other earthquake-prone countries
however the second theme that of the nuclear fallout in fukushima is more difficult
while japan will undoubtedly learn swiftly from these events europe too must take these lessons on board and our reaction might be broken up into two areas
the first is to secure beyond doubt the safety of nuclear power plants operating in the eu
i welcome plans for tests and would like to stress that they must conclude with common rules between member states on the security of nuclear power plants and on the storing of highly toxic nuclear waste
this is particularly pertinent in my ireland east constituency
the largest collection of such material is housed at sellafield nuclear plant in england just two hundred and eighty kilometres from county louth
our second response should concern the future of nuclear power as a whole
in this regard a complete halt to the construction of new nuclear power plants must be agreed
in order to ensure the continued provision of sufficient energy for the eu investments in renewable energy production and increased energy efficiency must also be approved
