Shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel

This is the second report from the Commission on the implementation of Council Directive 2006/117/EURATOM. It is based on all Member States notifications and follows up the first report of the Commission for the period 2008-2011, issued in 2013.

The reporting is intended to provide an overview of shipments of spent fuel and radioactive waste in the Community; of the recent trends and challenges on import, export and transit of spent fuel and radioactive waste, reported refusals and failed shipments, as well as proposed actions.

Import, export and transit of radioactive waste and spent fuel through Member State(s) are regular practices in the EU.

To date, 16 Member States have nuclear power reactors on their territories, of which operating nuclear reactors are located in 14 Member States. In addition, 20 Member States have operated or still operate research reactors within the EU. Some of the Member States ship spent fuel for reprocessing in the EU or to third countries.

Comprehensive legal basis: the report concluded that the current EU legal framework consisting of the Directive 2006/117/EURATOM, the new Directive 2013/59/EURATOM and Directive 2011/70/EURATOM provides a comprehensive legal basis to ensure protection of the health of workers and the general public against the risks arising from ionizing radiations, including during shipments of spent fuel and radioactive waste.

The majority of the Member States national reports for this period were submitted with delays and show variation in the level of detail of the information and different approaches to reporting shipments of spent fuel and radioactive waste

Observations and trends: Member States reported shipments within the national frameworks for the supervision and control of shipments of spent fuel and radioactive waste. These frameworks require that transboundary movements of radioactive waste and spent fuel take place only with the prior informed consent of the competent authorities of all involved Member States, and the standard document for import to, export from and transit through the Community is used.

For the 2012-2014 period, 20 Member States have reported authorised shipments within the scope of the Directive. Member States reported 400 issued approvals, which include 192 authorisations of Member State of origin and 208 consents to shipments of spent fuel and radioactive waste. Five out of the 20 reporting Member States account for 74 % of all 192 reported authorisations for the period 2012-2014. The Commission notes that the overall number of authorisations has increased (15%) compared to the previous reporting period (2008-2011), where 14 Member States delivered 161 authorisations within the scope of the Directive.

Most of the spent fuel and radioactive waste shipments took place between Member States and only around 17% of all transboundary movements were for imports into and exports out of the Community.

Under the current reporting period, no shipment failures involving transboundary movements of radioactive waste or spent fuel were reported by Member States. Two refusals were reported due to radioactive material not declared as radioactive waste and insufficient information but this was resolved by the corresponding Member States. All the cases of refusal were solved by the concerned Member States.

Outlook: the Commission will take the findings presented in this report into due consideration and will initiate reflections or take the necessary measures to:

• improve the standard document for the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel: some Member States provided suggestions for further improvement of the standard document. For example, it was suggested to clarify the explanatory notes and to add a specific section to the standard document allowing for cross-reference to a previous authorisation/consent whenever the application for shipment is linked to the repatriation of residues arising from that previous shipment;
• provide support to Member States to harmonise the reporting of shipments of spent fuel and radioactive waste of Member States, thus enhancing ultimately also the level of consistency and detail of future reporting by the Commission.

Moreover, the Commission will take appropriate measures on the basis of the findings of the on-going study on the review of the current situation regarding transport of radioactive material in EU Member States. The study includes the shipments of waste containing naturally occurring radionuclides and application of clearance levels, with the aim to identify specific actions required for improvement of transport at EU and national level, enhance transparency and increase public confidence.