Nuclear safety directive

Directive 2009/71/EURATOM establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations

Worldwide, the nuclear safety of nuclear installations is governed by national legislation and the international conventions. Within the EU, this is being supplemented by an EU Directive. The Directive 2009/71/EURATOM establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations, adopted by the Council of the European Union on 25 June 2009, provides binding legal force to the main international nuclear safety principles. The content of the Directive takes into account expert input from ENSREG as well as the Euratom Scientific Expert Group that advises the European Commission.

The objective of the Directive is to maintain and promote the continuous improvement of nuclear safety. Member States shall provide for appropriate national arrangements for a high level of nuclear safety to protect workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiation from nuclear installations.

The Directive comprises provisions relating to the establishment of a national legislative and regulatory framework for nuclear safety of nuclear installations, to the organisation, duties and responsibilities of the competent regulatory authorities, to the obligations of the licence holders, to the education and training of all parties’ staff, and to the provision of information to the public. In terms of the organisation of the competent regulatory authorities, it constitutes the separation principle which indicates that the competent regulatory authorities must be functionally separate from any other body or organisation concerned with the promotion or utilisation of nuclear energy. In addition, Member States shall arrange at least every ten years for periodic self-assessments of their national framework and competent regulatory authorities and invite an international peer review of relevant segments of their national framework and/or authorities. Outcomes of any peer review shall be reported to the Member States and the Commission.

After the entry into force on 22 July 2009, the content of the Directive has to be transposed into the national laws of the Member States by 22 July 2011. The first report on the implementation of the Directive shall be submitted to the Commission by 22 July 2014.

EU international assistance work on nuclear safety

For many years, the EU has provided financial and human resources to help improve nuclear safety in countries outside the EU. This has focused mainly on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and on the Former Soviet Union. The TACIS instrument that facilitated assistance to the former Soviet Union, and the PHARE nuclear safety programme which included many countries that are now EU Member States, came to an end in 2006, although some residual work is still under way. TACIS has since been replaced by the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Co-operation. This instrument finances measures to promote high levels of nuclear safety in third countries. It is not restricted to the former Soviet Union.

Other groups that contribute to EU nuclear safety initiatives include:

Eurosafe is a global and European initiative aimed at the convergence of nuclear safety practices in Europe. It pools the ideas of various European safety organisations and communicates these to a wide audience.

The  European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF) is a platform for a broad discussion on transparency issues as well as the opportunities and risks of nuclear energy. ENEF gathers relevant stakeholders in the nuclear field: EU Member State governments, European institutions, including the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee, the nuclear industry, electricity consumers and civil society.
The Western European Nuclear Regulators Association  (WENRA) is not an EU body. It was established in 1999 by those Western European states (including Switzerland) which operate nuclear power plants to develop a common approach to nuclear safety and regulation. In 2003, the new and applicant members of the EU from Central and Eastern Europe, and in 2009, non-nuclear EU countries were invited to observe WENRA plenary and working group meetings.

Two WENRA subgroups are working on harmonisation using IAEA Standards as a basis for their work. The first group has produced WENRA reference levels for reactors and is considering safety objectives for potential new nuclear power plants. The second group has produced WENRA reference levels for storage and decommissioning, and is currently developing reference levels for radioactive disposal.