Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council - Sixth situation report on radioactive waste and spent fuel management in the European Union SEC(2008)2416
Date: 2008-09-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: fuel reprocessing, irradiated fuel, nuclear policy, nuclear safety, public opinion, radioactive waste, underground storage of waste, waste management

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 8.9.2008 
COM(2008)542 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION  
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 

SIXTH SITUATION REPORT ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND SPENT FUEL 
MANAGEMENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION  

SEC(2008)2416

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   EN 

 
 
 
  
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION  
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 

SIXTH SITUATION REPORT ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND SPENT FUEL 
MANAGEMENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION  

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The  Commission  stressed  in  its  Communication  on  "An  Energy  Policy  for  Europe"1  of  10 
January 2007 that nuclear power raises important issues regarding waste and they should be 
included  in  the  future  Community  work.  As  set  out  in  the  new  Nuclear  Illustrative 
Programme2,  an  integral  part  of  the  package  submitted  with  the  Communication,  "waste  is 
fundamentally  an  environmental  and  health  issue;  as  such,  management  and  disposal  of 
radioactive waste have to be subject to the same scrutiny applied to all projects which have an 
impact  on  humans  and  their  environment",  and  the  discussion  should  notably  focus  on 
"ensuring  that  Member  States  put  in  place  national  plans  for  management  of  radioactive 
waste". 

In its conclusions of 8 May 2007 on nuclear safety and safe management of spent nuclear fuel 
and radioactive waste, the Council sets out that each EU Member State should be urged "to 
establish  and  keep  updated  a  national  programme  for  the  safe  management  of  radioactive 
waste  and  spent  fuel  that  includes  all  radioactive  waste  under  its  jurisdiction  and  covers  all 
stages of management". 

Following  30  years  of  research,  it  is  sufficiently  demonstrated  that  geological  disposal  now 
represents the safest and most sustainable option for the long term management of high level 
waste and spent fuel subject to direct disposal, even though implementation-oriented research 
and development needs to continue in those subject areas identified by the principal research 
stakeholder organisations and coordinated through the 7th Euratom Framework Programme.  

This Report gives an overview of the current status of the management of radioactive waste 
and spent fuel in the EU, on the basis of the Sixth Situation Report "Radioactive Waste and 
Spent Fuel Management in the European Union"3. It also proposes actions at the Community 
and  national  levels  with  the  purpose  of  ensuring  progress  towards  implementation  of 
radioactive waste and spent fuel disposal facilities. 

2. 

RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND SPENT FUEL MANAGEMENT 

2.1. 

Policies and practices 

The policies and practices of Member States on radioactive waste and spent fuel management 
reflect their historical, scientific and technological development. Currently five states use the 
reprocessing option and two states are actively pursuing spent fuel direct disposal option. In 

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COM(2007) 1 final 
COM(2006) 844 final 
COM ([….]), […] final  

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the majority of states a definitive spent fuel policy does not exist, other than arrangements to 
ensure a safe extended period of storage (50-100 years). 

For  the  most  dangerous  waste  category,  high  level  waste  and  spent  fuel  subject  to  direct 
disposal, progress on disposal projects is noted only in a few Member States, namely Finland, 
Sweden  and  France.  It  is  likely  by  2025  these  countries  will  have  operational  disposal 
facilities.  Germany  and  Belgium  will  possibly  follow  by  2040.  The  remaining  countries  are 
less advanced. Many of them have not made such progress because of the political sensitivity 
of  the  issue,  insufficient  scientific,  technical  and  financial  resources  and/or  due  to  other 
historical and societal reasons. 

Finland  demonstrates  that  even  small  nuclear  programs  can  afford  their  own  national 
repository.  In  this  case,  the  cooperation  with  the  Swedish  nuclear  program  has  helped  to 
reduce costs. In order to optimise the cost side, there are increasing multi-national initiatives 
in support of national solutions through joint work, programs and knowledge transfer, as well 
as  reflections  on  regional  solutions  both  on  international  and  EU  levels.  The  research  and 
demonstration  under  the  European  Framework  Programmes  have  contributed  to  advance  in 
this field.A similar situation exists for long lived low and intermediate level waste, since also 
for this type of waste the preferred solution is deep geological disposal, either using the same 
repository as for high level waste / spent fuel or disposed separately. For this waste category, 
Germany might have a deep geological repository operational before 2014. 

In  the  case  of  the  least  hazardous  waste  categories,  short  lived  low  and  intermediate  level 
waste and very low level waste, 7 of 16 Member States with nuclear power plants currently 
operate disposal facilities to deal with these categories of waste. However by 2020, if current 
plans are followed up, all states, with the exception of the Netherlands, could have operational 
disposal facilities for these types of waste. 

2.2. 

Public acceptance 

The last Eurobarometer4 on radioactive waste has revealed that 93% of the EU citizens want 
the  implementation  of  solutions  now  for  the  long  term  management  of  highly  radioactive 
waste but only 43%  believe  that  deep underground disposal represents the most  appropriate 
solution. This survey, as well as the last Eurobarometer5 on nuclear safety has shown that the 
unresolved  question  of  radioactive  waste  is  one  of  the  European  citizens'  fears  linked  to 
nuclear energy. 

The implementation of geological disposal requires long-term political commitment, modern 
governance concepts, building on a step-by-step approach and early involvement of national 
and  local  stakeholders  to  ensure  sound  consultations  and  acceptance.  Such  modern 
governance  concepts  have  successfully  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Finish  and  Swedish 
approaches. 

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Special Eurobarometer 297 (2008) 
Special Eurobarometer 271 (2007) 

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3. 

CONCLUSIONS 

It is the Commission's view that many scientific and technical areas important to geological 
disposal  have  reached  maturity  level,  and  moving  towards  implementation  should  be 
encouraged and facilitated.  

Postponements of the definitive solution decision taking, referred to as "wait-and-see" policy, 
are not acceptable because of the potential consequences of radioactive waste and spent fuel 
management on health and safety, as well as of the European citizens' opinion. All initiatives 
leading to encouraging and facilitating progress towards identification and operation of safe 
waste repositories are highly welcome. 

The  Commission  believes  that  regional  and  international  cooperation  could  accelerate 
decision-making  on  definitive  disposal  solutions.  However,  while  regional  solutions  are 
appealing in terms of economy of scale, giving the potential for considerable savings in terms 
of both cost and resources, it is clear that a country must be willing to host such a regional 
centre which requires political and social acceptance. 

It is also the Commission's view that proposals from non-EU states for disposal of radioactive 
waste and spent fuel should not be encouraged for technical, economical and also safety and 
security  reasons.  This  is  in  particular  true  when  the  potential  receiving  state  has  not  put  in 
place  the  same  technical,  political  and  societal  requirements  and  conditions  as  given  at  EU 
level.  

The management of radioactive waste and spent fuel is a part of sustained development of the 
national nuclear programs, including planning, construction and decommissioning of nuclear 
facilities. In the context of the future use of nuclear power, the policy on waste management is 
a subject of major importance.  

The  recently  established  European  High  Level  Group  on  Nuclear  Safety  and  Waste 
Management6 constituted among others a Working Group on Waste Management, mandated 
to work on behalf of the HLG in order to improve the management of spent fuel, radioactive 
waste and decommissioning in the European citizens' interest. 

The Sixth Situation Report "Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management in the European 
Union" forms a factual basis for the Working Group to develop a common understanding and, 
if  appropriate,  suggest  a  common  approach  in  the  field  of  the  safety  of  spent  fuel  and 
radioactive waste management.  

This  report  should  facilitate  a  restart  of  the  discussion  in  the  Council  and  in  the  European 
Parliament on an European Union legislation. 

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Commission Decision of 17 July 2007 (2007/530/Euratom), Official Journal L 195/44 

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