PROPOSED NEW EUROPEAN UNION LEGISLATION ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

It is clear that the safe and secure management of radioactive sources requires a disposal route. Even within the present Member States of the EU, the disposal options are very limited. Only two States have facilities that can

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accept a range of sources, and three others have disposal facilities for low activity sources. This situation could change in the relatively near future if a new proposal concerning radioactive waste is adopted by the European Council of Ministers [8].

While this proposal is not specifically targeted at sealed sources, their management would be covered by the proposal.

The objective of the proposed legislation is to bring about progress towards the safe long term management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. While the emphasis of the Directive is on high level waste — including spent nuclear fuel that is to be disposed of directly — it does cover all forms of radioactive waste and all spent nuclear fuel regardless of the management route followed (reprocessing, storage or direct disposal).

The Directive is very much inspired by the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. It includes a number of ‘basic requirements’ for safe management that will be quickly recognized by all who have studied the Convention. These measures can be considered as established international best practice in the field of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste management, and cover such aspects as public health, environmental protection, nuclear safety, financing and governance. Many of these measures are part of current policy in many Member States.

The Directive requires that each Member State establish a clearly defined programme for radioactive waste management covering all radioactive waste under its jurisdiction and covering all stages of management, including disposal. In particular, the programme is required to specify an approach to long term management and disposal with a definite timetable for each step of the process. Where there is no suitable alternative to disposal available, a small number of decision points must be included in the programme.

The Member States must report at regular intervals on their programmes, and the Commission, with the help of national experts, will review these reports and publish its own report on the situation regarding radioactive waste management in the EU.

Possibly the most controversial element of the proposed legislation relates to the three decision points that must be included in the programmes.

They are:

— Authorization for development of appropriate disposal sites to be granted no later than 2008. In the case of geological disposal of high level and long lived waste, this authorization could be conditional upon a further period of detailed underground study.

— In the case of short lived low and intermediate level waste, if this is to be disposed of separately from high level and long lived waste, authorization for operation of the disposal facility to be granted no later than 2013.

— In the case of high level and long lived waste, to be disposed of in a geo-logical repository, authorization for operation of the disposal facility to be granted no later than 2018.

The Directive strongly encourages progress on geological disposal, but it also advocates research, including into new technologies that would result in less radioactive waste.

The Directive allows the shipment of wastes to third countries as an alternative to disposal in a national repository. However, in order to avoid the risk of radioactive waste being sent to a country that could not safely manage it, there are strict conditions that would apply to such shipments. In particular, the shipments must be covered by firm contracts and only take place to a country with appropriate facilities that meet the accepted norms and standards of the country of origin and, in the case of special materials, under adequate safeguards.

Finally, the Directive aims to encourage more and better research on radioactive waste management. The Commission believes that the present level of research in the EU is inadequate. But, in addition to encouraging a higher level of research, the Commission wants to see the work better co-ordinated and plans to introduce proposals to achieve this in the coming months.

7. SUMMARY

While the management of radioactive sources in the EU and the Candidate Countries is generally adequate, there are a number of problems.

Within the present Member States alone, it is estimated that there are around 30 000 disused sources held on users’ premises, though a large majority of these are unlikely to be high activity sources.

In three of the present Member States and in several of the Candidate Countries there are no central storage facilities for disused sources and a large number — also into the tens of thousands — are stored on users’ premises.

Sources in storage on users’ premises are unlikely to be as safe or as secure as those in central storage facilities. Increased international co-operation might be envisaged to set up more such facilities.

Finally, very few States have adequate, safe and secure disposal facilities for sources, in particular for high activity sources. Such disposal facilities are necessary if we are to guarantee the safe and secure long term management of sources.

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The proposed new Council Directive on the control of high activity sealed radioactive sources should improve the situation in the future in the EU and also encourage the return of some of the orphan sources to within control.

The proposed new Council Directive on the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste should result in disposal routes for all types of sources within 10 to 15 years. This also could be an area for increased international co-operation in the interest of enhanced safety and security.

REFERENCES

[1] CRUMPTON, C., Management of Spent Radiation Sources in the European Union: Quantities, Storage, Recycling and Disposal, Rep. EUR 16960, European Commission (1996).

[2] ANGUS, M.J., CRUMPTON, C., McHUGH, G., MORETON, A., ROBERTS, P.T., Management and Disposal of Disused Sealed Radioactive Sources in the European Union, Rep. EUR 18186, European Commission (2000).

[3] ANGUS, M.J., MORETON, A.D., WELLS, D.A., Management of Spent Sealed Radioactive Sources in Central and Eastern Europe, Rep. EUR 19842, European Commission (2001).

[4] ANGUS, M.J., COWLEY, M., MORETON, A.D., WELLS, D.A., Management of Spent Sealed Radioactive Sources in Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia, Rep. EUR 20654, European Commission (2003).

[5] ALARDIN, J.-M., DECONINCK, J.-M., ERSHOV, V., Management of Sealed Radioactive Sources Produced and Sold in the Russian Federation, Rep. EUR 18191EN, European Commission (1999).

[6] Council Directive 96/29/Euratom of 13 May Laying down Basic Safety Standards for the Protection of the Health of Workers and the General Public against the Dangers Arising from Ionising Radiation (OJ L 159 of 29/06/1996).

[7] European Commission proposal for a Council Directive on the Control of High Activity Sealed Radioactive Sources, COM(2003) 18 Final.

[8] European Commission proposal for a Council Directive on the Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel and Radioactive Waste, COM(2003) 32.

Annex ACTIVITY LEVELS

For radionuclides not listed in the table below, the relevant activity level is one hundredth of the corresponding A1 value given in the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, 1996 Edition (Revised), Safety Standards Series No. TS-R-1 (ST-1, Rev.), IAEA, Vienna (2000).

Element (atomic number) Radionuclide Activity level (Bq)

Iron (26) Fe-55 4 ¥10¹¹

Cobalt (27) Co-60 4 ¥10⁹

Selenium (34) Se-75 3 ¥10¹⁰

Krypton (36) Kr-85 1 ¥10¹¹

Strontium (38) Sr-90^a 3 ¥10⁹

Palladium (40) Pd-103^a 4 ¥10¹¹

Iodine (53) I-125 2 ¥10¹¹

Caesium (55) Cs-137^a 2 ¥10¹⁰

Promethium (61) Pm-147 4 ¥10¹¹

Gadolinium (64) Gd-153 1 ¥10¹¹

Thulium (69) Tm-170 3 ¥10¹⁰

Iridium (77) Ir-192 1 ¥10¹⁰

Thallium (81) Tl-204 1 ¥10¹¹

Radium (88) Ra-226^b 2 ¥10⁹

Plutonium (94) Pu-238^a 1 ¥10¹¹

Americium (95) Am-241^b 1 ¥10¹¹

Californium (98) Cf-252 5 ¥10⁸

a The activity level includes contributions from daughter nuclides with half-lives of less than 10 d.

bincludes neutron sources with beryllium.

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DISCUSSION

M. ANTONOPOULOS-DOMIS (Greece): A reference was made by Mr.

Taylor to Greece, and I should like to update his information regarding disused radioactive source management in my country.

To start with, Greece has a regulatory body with a complete record of all sources in the country, whether in use or disused.

Greece’s main concern relates to the importation of disused sources in scrap. For that reason, at all relevant points of entry into the country — ports, border crossings and so on — there are radiation monitoring systems. Also, there are radiation monitoring portals at the entrances to steelworks.

About a year ago, we launched a programme for collecting disused sources from users’ premises and taking them to the Demokritos National Centre for Scientific Research at the Institute of Nuclear Technology and Radiation Protection, of which I am the Director and where we have the know-how and the infrastructure necessary for dealing with them.

Most sources with relatively high activity have already been collected from users’ premises, and we expect that the programme will be completed within a year from now.

At Demokritos we are erecting a facility for the interim storage of disused radioactive sources before they are exported pursuant to a 1990 law which requires the suppliers of sources imported into Greece to take them back after use. We have no intention of erecting a disposal or long term storage facility for disused radioactive sources.

D.M. TAYLOR (European Commission): I am pleased to hear about the progress made in Greece.

I should be interested to learn in due course what Greece intends to do with the sources which it imported before 1990 and which are not covered by re-export clauses.

H.D.K. CODÉE (Netherlands): What is the position of the European Commission regarding the shipment of disused sources to European Union countries from developing countries and other countries outside the European Union?

D.M. TAYLOR (European Commission): Basically, it is up to individual Member States whether or not to accept disused sources from abroad for management and ultimately for disposal. We would certainly not discourage them from doing so, especially if the acceptance of such sources increased general security and safety.

M. TOMAK (Turkey): What about the security aspects of the shipment of new radioactive sources from European Union countries to third countries?

D.M. TAYLOR (European Commission): I do not think we have ever had any particular security problems about the shipment of new radioactive sources to third countries.

The shipment of large quantities of spent fuel and high level waste is a different issue.

S.B. ELEGBA (Nigeria): In the 1980s, a tobacco company imported into Nigeria a number of ⁹⁰Sr sources for use as gauges. As there was no agreement with the parent company or with the supplier in Europe for the later return of the sources, these were ultimately deposited with a nuclear research institute in Nigeria.

We now have a regulatory body, and I was wondering whether, through the European Commission, it could negotiate an agreement for the return of the sources with the manufacturer or with the parent company I just mentioned.

D.M. TAYLOR (European Commission): We cannot force a Member State or an entity within a Member State to take back disused sources not covered by a take-back contract.However, we stand ready to help in situations like the one you have described. I shall look into the matter if you give me more information after this session.

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