COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 19 December 1994 on radioactive-waste management (94/C 379/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Recalling the Commission communication on a Community strategy for radioactive-waste management,

And the Council Resolution of 15 June 1992 on the renewal of the Community Plan of Action in the field of radioactive waste (1), Council Directive 92/3/Euratom of 3 February 1992 on the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste between Member States and into and out of the Community (2), Council Directive 80/836/Euratom of 15 July 1980 amending the Directives laying down the basic safety standards for the health protection of the general public and workers against the dangers of ionizing radiation (3) and the Council Resolution of 1 February 1993 on a Community programme of policy and action in relation to the environment and sustainable development (4),

Believes that, in the interests of protecting citizens of the European Union against the dangers of ionizing radiation and also of protecting the environment, comprehensive policies covering, inter alia, all stages of the nuclear fuel cycle, for the management of radioactive waste are needed,

While such policies will dovetail smoothly with the Community's general waste policy as set out in the Council Resolution of 7 May 1990 (5),

Notes that all Member States produce radioactive waste to varying degrees; and that significant quantities of radioactive waste have already built up in the Community, awaiting disposal;

1. WELCOMES the fact that the Commission has put forward a communication proposing elements of a Community strategy in implementation of the Community plan of action in the field of radioactive waste;

2. TAKES THE VIEW that each Member State is responsible for ensuring that the radioactive waste produced on its territory is properly managed and NOTES that, in this context, the possibility of a mutually agreed cooperation between Member States exists;

3. CONSIDERS that the recycling and reuse of materials and equipment with, inter alia, a low level of radioactive contamination is an option to be explored further, where residual radioactivity is at too low a level to pose a threat to human health or the environment, in accordance with radiological protection requirements;

therefore CALLS ON the Commission to continue its work in order to help determine the conditions for recycling and reuse permitting the clearance of such materials under the same conditions throughout the Community, subject to compliance with the basic safety standards for health protection against the dangers of ionizing radiation;

4. REAFFIRMS the importance of pressing on with efforts to reduce the volume and radiotoxicity of radioactive waste;

5. TAKES THE VIEW that Community research programmes including the Joint Research Centre programme should be given appropriate priority and that cooperation in research and development among Member States should be intensified in order to contribute to improved solutions for the management of radioactive waste;

6. EMPHASIZES that the establishment of suitable facilities for the treatment, conditioning, storage and final disposal of radioactive waste makes a necessary and important contribution to the creation of a safe waste-management infrastructure in general;

CONSIDERS that optimum use should be made of facilities at national level and, where practicable and appropriate, between Member States, bearing in mind the political aspects of the matter and that further consideration should be given to the various approaches available, which might result, among other things, in a minimization of transport of radioactive waste;

7. CONSIDERS that the management of radioactive waste should continue to take into account the risks of long-term toxicity;

8. REAFFIRMS that shipments of radioactive waste between Member States and into and out of the Community must continue to be subject to appropriate controls;

9. EMPHASIZES the need for the public to be objectively informed regarding the management of radioactive waste, and INVITES Member States and the Commission to continue and, where appropriate, intensify their efforts to that end;

10. CONSIDERS that, among others, financial and economic instruments at the disposal of Member States could play a useful role in the implementation of effective waste-management strategies;

11. ENCOURAGES continued cooperation with various international bodies, in particular the NEA of the OECD and the IAEA, to provide international guidance and standards for the safe management of radioactive waste and to encourage the adoption of the best available techniques and best environmental practice;

12. CALLS ON the Commission to continue its work in the framework of this Resolution, with the assistance of the Consultative Committee set up for the plan of action in the field of radioactive waste and to submit to the Council in four years time a report on progress achieved.

(1) OJ No C 158, 25. 6. 1992, p. 3.

(2) OJ No L 35, 12. 2. 1992, p. 24.

(3) OJ No L 246, 17. 9. 1980, p. 1. Directive as amended by Directive 84/467/Euratom (OJ No L 265, 5. 10. 1984, p. 4).

(4) OJ No C 138, 17. 5. 1993, p. 1.

(5) OJ No C 122, 18. 3. 1990, p. 2.