In July 1995, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Reactor Safety (BMU) presented the 1994 survey of ''Notifiable Events in Plants for Nuclear Fuel Fission - Nuclear Power Plants and Research Reactors Whose Maximum Power Exceeds 50 kW of Continuous Thermal Power - in the Federal Republic of Germany''. Since 1975, the operators of nuclear power plants in the Federal Republic of Germany have been required to report to the nuclear supervisory authorities all notifiable events in accordance with standard national reporting criteria. This official reporting system serves for monitoring the safety status of notifiable plants and use the findings derived from the events reported to improve the safety status of plants within the supervisory procedures where necessary. The reports constitute an important base for the early detection of defects and for preventing the occurrence of similar defects in other plants. In 1994, there were 161 notifiable events in nuclear power plants in the Federal Republic of Germany. None of these events is to be classified as an accident, and in none of the events were dose limits under the German Radiation Protection Ordinance exceeded.