Germany and Austria have blocked a plan backed by several European Union countries that would have set criteria for EU nuclear reactor safety checks to protect against natural disasters, calling for even stronger "stress tests" and demanding that experts independent of the nuclear industry should conduct them, said Austrian and Czech government officials.

EU governments have called for standards on gauging nuclear reactor safety following the radiation leak from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan . Yet reaching consensus on how tough those measures should be is proving to be a tricky task. The uncertainty has muddled the earnings outlook for some European nuclear power providers, particularly in Germany , which has taken tough preventive measures at home after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami revealed reactors' potential vulnerability to natural disasters.

Austrian Environment Minister Niki Berlakovich demanded strict and comprehensive nuclear stress tests. "We're against a white-washing of the atomic industry," Berlakovich said Thursday.

A German environment ministry official had no immediate comment.

Following the proposal's defeat Wednesday, the EU Commission said negotiators would continue to discuss how to come to an agreement.

"Discussions on (nuclear) stress tests are ongoing," said Marlene Holzner, the spokeswoman for EU Commissioner for Energy Guenther Oettinger.

The commission never announced the proposal, but rather said last week that discussions would have to continue because there was no agreement among member countries.

European nuclear watchdog Ensreg, however, said in a statement on its website that the negotiators had agreed "in broad terms," and that it hoped a "consensus" will be reached.

If the draft of inspection criteria had gone unopposed, the plan would have taken effect as of the midday Wednesday expiration of the EU's so-called silent procedure, which sets deadlines for negotiators to speak up against a deal or let it pass by remaining silent, said a Brussels-based diplomat and the Czech official.

Austria and Germany both want the nuclear "stress tests," or safety inspections, to include verification that reactors could withstand terrorist attacks--a potentially far more expensive proposition for the utilities operating nuclear power plants. The commission also stated its preference for external risks such as plane crashes to be included in the reactor safety checks.

The opposition to the proposal's criteria--drafted last week by Ensreg and backed by the U.K. , France , Finland and the Czech Republic --prevented its adoption Wednesday, an Austrian Environment Ministry spokesperson and the Czech official said.

"Especially the Brits opposed the German demand on safety tests including terrorist attacks, refusing to grant the EU authority over the U.K. security matters," the Czech official said. "The terrorist attack issue was to be dealt with in a separate working group."

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