Proposal for a Council directive on the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste

The European Commission has proposed a "Directive on the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste" to the European Council and Parlaement on 3 November 2010. All Member States have radioactive waste. It is generated by many beneficial activities, such as electricity production in nuclear power plants and a range of radioisotope applications in medicine, industry, agriculture, research and education. The operation of nuclear reactors also generates spent fuel. Depending on the characteristics of the waste (i.e. radionuclide content) specific management and final disposal of all existing and future radioactive waste and spent fuel are required to protect humans and the environment against dangers arising from ionizing radiation. In 2003 the Commission already proposed two directives (called as „nuclear package”) on the safety of nuclear installations and on the safety of radioactive waste and spent fuel. The Council did not adopted these at that time, however called the Commission for a EU-wide consultation. In response to this request, the Commision consulted widely through different EU-wide initiatives when drafting the revised proposal. As a result of the consultations, the Commission proposed the directive on the safety of nuclear installations at first, which was agreed on by the Council working group called Working Party on Atomic Questions (WPAQ) and finally adopted by the European Council in 2009. Secondly, the Commission proposed a Directive on the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste in November 2010. During the Belgian Presidency, the WPAQ starts the negotiation on this issue from 10 November. The aim of the Hungarian Presidency is to close this file and adopt the new directive. Proposal for a COUNCIL DIRECTIVE on the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste