WRITTEN QUESTION E-0586/99

by Nuala Ahern (V) to the Commission

(12 March 1999)

Subject: Fourth report on the present situation and prospects for radioactive waste management in the European Union (COM(98) 799 final)

In the Commission Communication and Fourth Report on the present situation and prospects for radioactive waste management in the European Union (COM(98) 799 final, dated 11 January 1999), the Commission refers to numerous previous Council resolutions dating back to 1989 on which the strategy has been based, for instance in section 1.8. Why has the Commission made no reference at all to Parliament's report on the transport and storage of radioactive waste drawn up by Mr Llewellyn Smith, A3-0220/93(1), adopted with amendments by Parliament on 16 July 1993? In particular, why has the Commission not responded to recommendation 19 of the report calling upon the Commission to establish a complete database of all categories of radioactive waste by location in the Community?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(31 March 1999)

The main reference in the fourth report concerns the Council Resolution of 15 June 1992 that approved the plan of action in the field of radioactive waste management(2). The first point of this plan - the requirement to provide the Council with an analysis of the situation and prospects in the field of radioactive waste management in Member States - is the basis for the fourth report. This analysis specifically requests information on a number of topics, including "the administrative, regulatory and legal structures and frameworks" relating to radioactive waste management in the Community. The other references to directives, resolutions and communications in the section (Section 1.8) to which the Honourable Member refers respond specifically to that request for information.

Recommendation No 17 in the Parliament Resolution on the environmental and public health aspects of the storage, transport and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels(3) called on the Commission to establish a complete database of all categories of radioactive waste by location in the Community. This goes well beyond the requirements of the plan of action which only require the Commission to compile a list of storage installations "having regard to the nature of the product to be stored". It could be added that to produce the type of database suggested in the Parliament's report would be, to say the least, impractical. A complete database for one Member State, for example the database for the United Kingdom produced by NIREX (DOE/RAS/96.001), contains 444 pages, excluding several hundreds of pages of annexes. The report established for France by ANDRA contains a similar number of pages. Republishing such information, that is already publicly available, could be regarded as an improper use of scarce resources. Furthermore, the Commission believes that the condensed summary of the data contained in its fourth report would be appreciated by a much wider audience.

On a more positive note, the Commission may shortly adopt a Recommendation on a Community classification scheme for radioactive waste that should, in future, help to improve the collection and communication of information on all forms of radioactive waste.

(1) OJ C 255, 20.9.1993, p. 255.

(2) OJ C 158, 25.6.1992.

(3) OJ C 255, 20.9.1993.