Brussels, 19/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - Following the opinion from the European Parliament on 23 June, the Council, on Tuesday 19 July, adopted the directive on spent fuel and radioactive waste proposed by the Commission at the start of November 2010. The new directive sets binding standards for managing radioactive waste in the EU, including final repositories for nuclear waste from nuclear power plants, and requires member states to submit detailed programmes on when and how they will build these repositories. The directive will come into force in September this year at the latest, and member states will have to submit their first national programmes in 2015.
Series of requirements. While only 14 of the 27 member states have nuclear reactors which generate also spent fuel, all EU member states produce radioactive waste, generated by numerous activities, such as electricity production, medicine, research, industry and agriculture. While reaffirming that ultimate responsibility for the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste lies with member states, the directive adopted on Tuesday creates a strong EU framework with important obligations imposed on member states.
Member states will have to draw up national programmes and submit them to the Commission by 2015 at the latest. The Commission will examine them and can require changes. National programmes will have to include plans with a firm timetable for the construction of disposal facilities, and a description of the activities needed for the implementation of disposal solutions, costs assessments and a description of the financing schemes. They will have to be updated regularly.
Secondly, safety standards drawn up by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will become legally binding. Moreover, member states will be required periodically - at least every 10 years - to invite international peer reviews in order to exchange experiences and ensure the application of the highest standards.
Thirdly, member states will have a duty to make information available to the general public and workers. The public will also be given the opportunity to participate effectively in the decision-making process.
Finally, two or more member states can agree to use a disposal facility located in one or other of them.
Export of waste subject to strict conditions. Despite the opposition of the Commission - whose initial draft text included a total ban on exporting waste - and the Parliament - which, on 23 June, came out against exports - the Council finally decided to authorise the export of waste to countries outside the EU but only under very strict and binding conditions. Any country to which waste is exported must have a final repository in operation when the waste is being shipped. Such a repository for highly radioactive waste is internationally defined to be a deep geological repository. “At present, such deep geological repositories do not exist anywhere in the world nor is a repository in construction outside of the EU. It takes currently a minimum of 40 years to develop and build one”, the Commission states in a press release.
Existing EU directives on the shipment of spent fuels and radioactive waste explicitly rule out the export of spent fuel and radioactive waste to African, Pacific and Caribbean countries and to Antarctica.
Council approval of exports is a defeat for Oettinger, say Greens. “This is a major achievement for nuclear safety in the EU. After years of inaction, the EU for the very first time commits itself to a final disposal of nuclear waste. With this directive, the EU becomes the most advanced region for the safe management of radioactive waste and spent fuel”, said Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger on Tuesday.
Yet despite its strict rules on exports, the new directive is not tough enough, according to environmentalists. “The irresponsible attitude of member states over the export of nuclear waste to non-EU countries is scandalous. Exporting is not the safest but the cheapest option to the waste issue. Yet application of the polluter pays principle is a financial as well as an ethical obligation. Nuclear waste has to be managed and dealt with in the countries where it is produced”, said joint leader of the Greens Group in the European Parliament Rebecca Harms, who slammed the Commission U-turn on exporting waste, when Oettinger had on a number of occasions publicly stated his opposition to this option.
Environmental NGO Greenpeace is concerned that authorising the export of nuclear waste to third countries will “open the door to dumping in Russia”, as Bulgaria and Hungary already do. “European governments have adopted an out of sight, out of mind approach to radioactive waste, but all they are doing is dumping the long-term problem on someone else and putting Europeans at risk by allowing dangerous waste convoys” to travel long distances, Greenpeace says. (E.H./transl.rt)