Minister Demands Stricter Safety Standards for Nuclear Reactors

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Wednesday that following the recent nuclear scare in Sweden, all 17 of Germany's nuclear reactors will undergo stringent checks to determine that they are not exposed to risks.

"This accident (in Sweden) shows that there are imminent risks in the system," Gabriel said, adding that the complex system of running nuclear reactors couldn't be completely foolproof.

"Normality is a problem"

Speaking in Berlin after the publication of a report by his ministry, Gabriel said he would push for higher safety standards as well as expanding the information system between nuclear plant operators in order to learn better from a breakdown in future.

He said that warnings issued by nuclear plants based on the level of danger should in future also contain details about the cause of the breakdown.

"The basic problem is that it's always 'learning by doing.' I consider that irresponsible when it comes to a security risk," Gabriel said. "What we're witnessing here is a normal scenario when you're using nuclear energy. Unfortunately, this normality is a problem."

The minister said he had absolutely no understanding for operators who want longer life spans for old reactors.

"Rather you should think about taking old reactors off the power grid," Gabriel said. "That would contribute towards securing the safety of nuclear plants."

Swedish breakdown reignites nuclear debate

The minister's comments come in the wake of a nuclear malfunctioning in Sweden recently which has reignited the debate in Germany about the use of nuclear energy.

A reactor in Forsmark in Sweden was taken off the power grid earlier this month when two of the four diesel generators intended to provide the plant with emergency power needed to be manually started.

A former construction manager at the plant said the incident was "close to nuclear meltdown" and that it was sheer luck that it didn't lead to a catastrophe worse than Chernobyl. Swedish authorities have since said that the situation was not as dangerous.

A subsidiary of Germany's largest energy company, Eon, also shut down two of three reactors it runs in the Swedish city of Oskarshamn as precautionary measures.

German nuclear power critics used the Swedish incident to highlight that atomic power posed dangers -- even in a country with Western safety standards -- and to call for an end to Germany's dependency on atomic energy, which accounts for about 12 percent of German energy. Germany is committed to phasing out nuclear energy and shut down its last nuclear plant by 2020.

No "acute danger" in Germany

Gabriel on Wednesday underlined that there was no "acute danger" amid nuclear power plants in Germany.

"There's no one-to-one translation of the scenario in Sweden," he said, pointing out that German nuclear reactors used a different technology for emergency power than Swedish reactors.