EU Regulators Commit to Stronger Nuclear Safety Measures

These areas are under the jurisdiction of individual countries, and member states are seeking better ways to learn from each other.

At the meeting of the European High Level Group on Nuclear Safety and Waste Management on May 30, all delegates committed to the following improvements:

• All member states are already signatories of the Nuclear Safety Convention and nearly all have signed the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, which set basic rules for arrangements in these areas.
  
  Participating member state regulators committed themselves to openly exchange all information emerging from the review processes under these conventions. In addition, common lessons learned will be sought to enhance nuclear safety or radioactive waste management arrangements in all members states.

• Member state regulators will invite International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) peer review teams to thoroughly review arrangements in their regulatory bodies and seek to identify and learn from areas of international best practices.
  
  IAEA peer reviews are well-established processes that are initiated voluntarily by the reviewed country. With the May 30 agreement, member state regulators made such an invitation mandatory, while recognizing that completing such a program across all member states may take some years, given the resources available to the IAEA and the worldwide need.
  
  Hence, it was also agreed that, in the meantime, all member states would undertake a self-assessment against the IAEA standards, inviting suitable experts from other member states, as appropriate.

• Member state regulators agreed to work together to improve radioactive waste and spent fuel management practices in the EU, strengthen co-operation and monitor enhancements to decommissioning and the safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste.
  
  Future discussions in the High Level Group should be held on the establishment and implementation of a radioactive waste management plan in all member states.

• Member state regulators agreed to improve the transparency of their work and make it more open to the general public. This includes the creation of a web site on the EU level to simplify access to relevant data about nuclear safety in all member states.

Nuclear regulators also discussed the implications of any potential EU common rules in their area. International conventions and safety standards put the responsibility for nuclear safety on individual countries, including the establishment of an appropriate regulatory system. Such regulatory systems already exist in every member state with nuclear facilities.

It was recognized by EU officials that citizens should be guaranteed that the best nuclear safety standards and responsible management of radioactive waste are implemented everywhere in Europe. The High Level Group has initiated a detailed study to determine the pros and cons of other potential common arrangements to inform future nuclear safety decisions.

Source: European Commission.