A Step Closer to EU Law on the Management of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel

Abstract

On 3 November 2010, the European Commission (the ‘Commission’) proposed a Directive on the Management of Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste. The proposed Directive builds on the standards contained in the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 1995 Principles of Radioactive Waste Management. The Commission hopes that the Directive will be adopted sometime in 2011.Euratom and all European Union (EU) Member States (except Malta, Portugal and Cyprus) are parties to the Joint Convention. The Joint Convention is an ‘incentive’ instrument containing no mechanism for enforcement or sanction in case of a breach of its terms. Unlike the Joint Convention, the proposed Directive seeks to impose binding and enforceable obligations in EU law concerning the management of radioactive waste and spent fuel. With the aim of contributing to the ongoing discussion concerning the scope and the terms of the Directive, this article discusses its key provisions as well as those of the Commission’s previous proposals and the proposal of the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group from March 2010. By way of background, the article outlines the existing EU law concering radioactive waste and spent fuel as well as the international framework for the management thereof.