EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger says the cost of necessary improvements at the 145 nuclear reactors in the 27-nation European Union could be as high as 25 billion ($32 billion) over the coming years.
A European Union report released Thursday says stress tests carried out in the wake of the March 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan show that almost all the plants need safety improvements. Officials said earlier that the tests did not reveal the need to close any plants immediately.
EU leaders agreed last year to put the reactors through the toughest security checks possible to gauge their ability to withstand accidents and natural disasters.
