Brussels, 11/06/2008 (Agence Europe) -Meeting on 30 May at a meeting of the high-level group on nuclear safety chaired by the Slovenian Andrej Stritar, the national regulatory authorities agreed on measures to reinforce nuclear safety and improve the management of radioactive waste and dismantlement of nuclear installations in the EU. The exchange of best practice between Member States is an appropriate response to these issues, which come under national sovereignty, Mr Stritar emphasised in a press release listing the measures agreed upon by the national nuclear regulators. These have effectively committed to: - improve national provisions by means of an exchange of information resulting from the process of assessment carried out by virtue of conventions on nuclear safety and the safety of management of spent fuel and waste, and to learn joint lessons from observations made at national level; - to call upon the monitoring teams of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to carry out a peer review of their regulatory bodies and to determine the lessons which may be drawn from international best practice. The peer review is carried out by the IAEA (IRSS) well-established procedures, launched by initiative of the country in question. In their decision of 30 May, the national regulators have undertaken, by common accord, to call for a review of this kind. They also acknowledge that the execution of this programme, in all of the Member States, may be staggered over several years, given the resources available to the IAEA and global requirements. The regulators also agreed that the Member States will carry out a self-evaluation on the basis of IAEA standards, inviting competent experts of other Member States if required; - to work together to improve the handling of radioactive waste and spent fuel and to monitor the financing of safe dismantling of irradiated fuel and waste. A plan for the management of radioactive waste will be discussed in all Member States in the coming months; - to improve the transparency of their work as regards the general public. A website on nuclear safety in the EU will be launched within the next few months. Lastly, the regulators examine the implications of any new rules at Community level in the field of nuclear. International conventions and safety standards provide for responsibility for nuclear safety matters to reside at national level, by the creation of an appropriate regulation, which already exists in all Member States with nuclear installations. It was also agreed that all European citizens should have the guarantee that the most stringent nuclear safety standards are in place throughout Europe. The high-level group therefore launched a study of the advantages and disadvantages of other planned joint provisions, to be used as a basis for any possible future decisions. (E.H./trans.fl)