"The order we have is ... to finish this stress test at the end of the year, and going into the European Council at 8th or 9th of December," he told a joint press conference with Finland's outgoing Economic Affairs Minister Mauri Pekkarinen.

The stress test initiative was launched in March by the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) in response to the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan to determine whether European reactors could withstand similar conditions.

Oettinger arrived in Finland on Thursday to discuss European energy policy, and will be leaving Saturday.

He toured the one of Finland's two nuclear power plants, the Olkiluoto plant in western Finland, as well as the construction of an adjacent permanent nuclear waste disposal site.

Oettinger praised Finland's nuclear authorities and experts for their "high level of competence."

He also noted that pressure to build safe, long-term nuclear waste disposal sites had increased in the wake of the crisis in Japan, where a tsunami and earthquake on March 11 triggered a leak at the the Fukushima power plant.

earlier related report
Japan prime minister's nuclear adviser resigns
Tokyo (AFP) April 29, 2011 - A senior nuclear adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan submitted his resignation Friday, saying the government had ignored his advice and failed to follow the law.

Toshiso Kosako, a Tokyo University professor who was named last month as an advisor to Kan, said the government had only taken ad hoc measures to contain the crisis at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

In a tearful press conference, he said the government and its commissions had taken "flexible approaches" to existing laws and regulations, and ignored his advice after he was named an advisor on March 16.

"I cannot help but to think (the prime minister's office and other agencies) are only taking stopgap measures... and delaying the end" of the nuclear crisis, he told reporters.

Tokyo officials had drafted measures to deal with the accident that were not in strict accordance with the law, and the decision-making process had been unclear, he said.

"There is no point for me to be here," as the Kan administration had failed to listen to him, said Kosako, an expert on radiation safety.

It was not clear whether the government would accept the resignation, but his letter and comments served as a fresh blow to the embattled Kan, who has been badly criticised for his handling of the nuclear crisis.

The Fukushima Daiichi power plant has been releasing radioactive materials since it was battered by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that left nearly 26,000 people killed or missing.

The nuclear accident and natural disaster have forced the evacuation of more than 150,000 people from their homes.

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