EURATOM on the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel - Main contents

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dossier	COM(2023)77 - Member States implementation of the Council Directive 2006/117/EURATOM on the supervision and control of shipments of ...
document	COM(2023)77
date	February 16, 2023

annexed to the accompanying staff working document.

3. Observations

The Commission has observed that no failures involving transboundary movements of radioactive waste or spent fuel were reported by Member States in this reporting cycle.

The Member States did not report any issues that could fall under Article 4 "Reshipment related to non-authorised shipments of undeclared radioactive waste"; Article 12 "Shipment failure" nor Article 16(1)(c) "Prohibited exports". Thus, based on the reported information, no unauthorised shipment was carried out on the EU territory during the reporting period.

In the reporting period there were four cases of refusal to grant consent:

·One Member State refused to consent to two applications due to a temporary inaccessibility of the final treatment facilities.

·One Member State refused to consent to two applications for the transit of contaminated scrap metal, considering the application out of the scope of the Directive ²³ . These transits were, however, regularly carried out under the applicable local legislation.

Three Member States (Croatia, Cyprus, and Malta) have not reported any authorised shipments on their territory since the reporting obligations were imposed on them by the Directive.

A detailed presentation of the transboundary shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel in the EU during the current reporting period is provided in the accompanying staff working document.

3.1.Statistics (2018-2020)

This section provides a statistical overview of authorisations and shipments.

Figure 1.    Number of authorisations

The 195 authorisations reported by 21 Member States in the period 2018-2020 correspond to 1770 authorised shipments. An authorisation pertains in general to several shipments, and may exceed the period of time covered by the present report.

Figure 2.    Number of shipments

In terms of authorised shipments, 98% (1,732 shipments) related to radiactive waste and 2% (38 shipments) related to spent fuel.

Most of the authorisations and shipments pertained to intra-Community movements. Overall, 92.6% of shipments were intra-Community (MM category), while 2.7% was for exports (ME category) and 4.7% for imports (IM category).

Statistics show that for 79% of all intra-Community shipments the radioactive waste originated in the nuclear industry, while 21% originated from non-nuclear activities (e.g. medicine, reasearch).

Processing of radioactive waste (such as treatment for volume reduction, or conditioning) in dedicated facilities was the main purpose of shipments, as well as returns of processed radioactive waste or spent fuel to the country of origin. Sweden and Germany were the countries issuing the highest number of authorisations, both as country of origin and country of destination.

Movements of spent fuel were either due to reprocessing or return to the country of origin.

Figure 3.    Shipments of radioactive waste, intra-Community (MM), exports (ME), imports (IM)

Figure 4.    Shipments of spent fuel, intra-Community (MM), exports (ME), imports (IM)

4. Follow-up and continuous improvement

The Third Commission Report on the implementation of the Directive identified two needs: to enhance the harmonization of the standard document with the reporting template requirements; and to follow the effects of the Basic Safety Standards over the implementation of the supervision and control of transbondary shipments.

In its follow-up on the former point, the Commission has proposed, based on a proposal from a Member State, a revision of the standard document in line with Articles 17(2) and 21 of the Directive, with the aim to include information on the initial shipments in the amended standard document. Thus, in case of return shipments, involved Member States will be able to track shipments. In addition, as suggested by two Member States, the Commission has presented a digital standard document.

²⁴ Regarding possible effects of the Basic Safety Standards on the implementation of the Directive, the Commission did not observe any major issue. However, the reported case of two refusals to consent to transit of radioactive waste through a Member State raised an important question about the application of the Directive. There were indeed different views between Member States whether or not transboundary shipments of contaminated scrap metal, that is treated and recycled, is within the scope of the Directive or not, as a Member State regulatory body may classify that material as radioactive waste. As per the definition of radioactive waste, if the regulatory bodies under the legislative and regulatory framework of the countries of origin and destination control the radioactive material as radioactive waste for which no further use is foreseen by either the countries of origin or destination, that material qualifies as radioactive waste under the Directive. Accordingly, the Commission would consider that a consent is due in such cases, notwithstanding the transit country not having qualified such material as radioactive waste.

²⁵ ²⁶ In addition, one Member State indicated their preference to have NORM waste shipments always within the scope of Council Directive 2006/117/Euratom. In this respect the Commission recalls that from a legal point of view all waste containing NORM which requires regulatory control and is categorised as radioactive waste falls under the scope of the Directive.

During its XII. Meeting the Advisory Committee invited the Commission to consider an update of the standard document, specifically including information on the origin of the waste, i.e. reference to initial shipments.

5. Conclusions

The implementation of the Directive ensured that all transboundary movements of radioactive waste and spent fuel within the Community took place with the prior informed consent of the competent authorities of all involved Member States (including transit countries), through the use of the standard document. The information related to all authorised shipments within a defined reporting period (three years) was regularly transmitted by all Member States to the Commission. Supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel was thus guaranteed, throughout the Community. For that purpose, the use of the provided "reporting template" although not mandatory, is still highly encouraged as it enabled straightforward data retrieval and mitigated risks of misinterpretation of information.

Overall, the Commission concludes that the current Euratom legal framework consisting of the Directive, the Basic Safety Standards and the Radioactive Waste Directive ensured the highest safety levels with respect to the risks of ionizing radiation in the territory of the EU in the context of transboundary shipments. Nonetheless, the Commission notes that possible differentiations between Member States in defining radioactive waste may lead to some issues in information and consent process. This is a matter for improvement, exploring options for further harmonisation in this field in agreement with the Member States.

(1)

   Council Directive 2006/117/Euratom of 20 November 2006 on the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel, OJ L 337, 5.12.2006, pp. 21 – 32.

(2) More precisely, the reports cover the period from 26.12.2017 to 25.12.2020 (authorisations). This was the fourth reporting cycle for all Member States but Croatia, while it was the third one for Croatia as they joined the EU on 1 July 2013. This will be the last reporting cycle including a report from the United Kingdom.
(3) Article 20(2) of the Directive requires the Commission to establish a summary report in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 21 of the Directive.
(4) The Advisory Committee was established in 2007 as required by Article 21 of the Directive.
(5) Article 4 of the Directive.
(6)

   COM(2019) 633 final, Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee on Member States implementation of Council Directive 2006/117 Euratom on the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel, Third Report, 17.12.2019 and SWD(2019) 437 final.

(7) Nuclear Energy Statistics. Eurostat. February, 2021. ISSN 2443-8219.
(8) Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
(9) The Joint Convention entered into force on 18 June 2001. It applies to spent fuel and radioactive waste resulting from civilian nuclear reactors and applications and to spent fuel and radioactive waste from military or defence programmes if and when such materials are transferred permanently to and managed within exclusively civilian programmes, or when declared as spent fuel or radioactive waste for the purpose of the Convention by the Contracting Party. The Convention also applies to planned and controlled releases into the environment of liquid or gaseous radioactive materials from regulated nuclear facilities.
(10) The United Kingdom is a contracting party too. As of 11 February 2022 there are 88 Contracting Parties.
(https://www-legacy.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Conventions/jointconv_status.pdf).
(11) Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom of 5 December 2013 laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation, and repealing Directives 89/618/Euratom, 90/641/Euratom, 96/29/Euratom, 97/43/Euratom and 2003/122/Euratom, OJ L 13, 17.1.2014, p. 1–73.
(12) Council Directive 2011/70/Euratom of 19 July 2011 establishing a Community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste, OJ L 199, 2.8.2011, p. 48–56.
(13)

   Holder means any natural or legal person who, before carrying out a shipment of radioactive waste or spent fuel is responsible under the applicable national law for such materials and plans to carry out a shipment to a consignee. (Article 5(9) of the Directive).

(14) Article 12 of the Directive.
(15) Article 16 of the Directive.
(16) Article 16(1)(c) of the Directive.
(17) Article 18 of the Directive.
(18) According to Article 17 of the Directive.
(19)

   Commission Decision of 5 March 2008 establishing the standard document for the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel referred to in Council Directive 2006/117/Euratom, (notified under document number C(2008) 793), (2008/312/Euratom), OJ L 107, 17.4.2008, pp. 32 – 59.

(20) Corrigendum to Commission Decision 2008/312/Euratom of 5 March 2008 establishing the standard document for the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel referred to in Council Directive 2006/117/Euratom, OJ L 343, 23.12.2011, p. 149.
(21) Commission Recommendation of 4 December 2008 on criteria for the export of radioactive waste and spent fuel to third countries (notified under document number C(2008)7570) (2008/956/Euratom).
(22) Article 5(13) of the Directive defines "competent authorities" as "any authority which, under the law or regulations of the countries of origin, transit or destination, are empowered to implement the system of supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste or spent fuel".
(23) There are different views between Member States whether transboundary shipments of contaminated scrap metal, that is treated and recycled, is within the scope of the Directive or not. Member States that do not consider contaminated scrap metal that will be recycled to be waste, do not grant consent to the corresponding shipment authorisation (refusal).
(24) Article 5(1) of the Directive reads: ‘radioactive waste’ means radioactive material in gaseous, liquid or solid form for which no further use is foreseen by the countries of origin and destination, or by a natural or legal person whose decision is accepted by these countries, and which is controlled as radioactive waste by a regulatory body under the legislative and regulatory framework of the countries of origin and destination.
(25) Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material.
(26) As pointed out in the Third Commission Report to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee on the implementation of the Directive.