Commission revises proposal on spent fuel and radioactive waste

摘要

The Commission is set, on 3 November, to put forward, under the Euratom Treaty, a revised proposal for legislation on the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste. The proposed Council Directive - Parliament has only a consultative role - sets out an EU legal framework for the first time in this field. Aside from nuclear power plants, nuclear waste is also generated by a range of radioisotope applications in medicine, industry, agriculture, research and universities. The proposal notes that more than 85% of the generated volume of radioactive waste in the EU is constituted by short lived low and Intermediate Level Waste' (LILW), about 5% long lived LILW and less than 10% 'High Level Waste' (HLW). The latter includes both vitrified waste from reprocessing and spent fuel considered as waste.