Photo Credit: IAEA By Richard Johnson
Courtesy IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
BRUSSELS (IDN) - Nearly four months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, government ministers of 27 European Union countries have taken a decision on radioactive waste management that promises to be of profound significance not only for the member nations, but also for the African, Pacific and Caribbean states as well the Antarctic.
The ministers adopted the "radioactive waste and spent fuel management directive" on July 19 in order to remedy a situation arising from the bare fact that year by year, 7000 cubic meters of high level waste are produced in the EU, and the majority of the material piled up in interim storages.
Taking up a rather sensitive issue, the EU said: "Exports to countries outside the EU are allowed under very strict and binding conditions: The third country needs to have a final repository in operation, when the waste is being shipped."
"Such a repository for highly radioactive waste is internationally defined to be a deep geological repository. At present, such deep geological repositories do not exist anywhere in the world nor is a repository in construction outside of the EU. It takes currently a minimum of 40 years to develop and build one," the EU explained in a media release.
According to already existing EU Directives on the shipment of spent fuels and radioactive waste, "the export to African, Pacific and Caribbean Countries as well to Antarctica is already explicitly ruled out."
The EU says in a background note: "In its initial directive proposal, the Commission had advocated a complete export ban. On June 23, 2011, the European Parliament in its plenary session voted in favour of a complete export ban as proposed by the Commission. As the legal basis for this directive is the Euratom Treaty, the European Parliament is only consulted; the opinion is therefore not binding. The final decision is taken only by the Council."
Considering that the EU has yet to build adequate repositories and that presently these do no exist anywhere in the world, one of the questions that arise is: "Where will then Europe bury its highly dangerous nuclear radioactive waste?"
While raising this question in his blog Human Wrongs Watch http://human-wrongs-watch.net Baher Kamal further asks. "Would a possible answer have eventually to do with the eternal 'non-solution' to Somalia's armed conflicts that have converted it in 'nobody's land and everybody’s land?' Or maybe rather with the frenetic EU rush to sign 'free trade' agreements with so many 'third countries'?"
Such questions are indeed relevant also in view of the fact that even the U.S. is faced with serious problems. The United States had planned disposal in deep geological formations, such as the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, where it has to be shielded and packaged to prevent its migration to humankind's immediate environment for thousands of years. However, on March 5, 2009, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a Senate hearing that "the Yucca Mountain site no longer was viewed as an option for storing reactor waste."
Knowledgeable sources say spent fuel stored in a pool is susceptible to incidents such as earthquakes or terrorist attacks, which can result in a release of radiation endangering local populations. In the Fukushima I nuclear accidents caused by the March 2011 Japanese earthquake, a spent fuel pool lost its roof, emitted steam and was reported possibly to have boiled dry before being brought back under control by workers who poured water on it from a water cannon and helicopters.
The Global Cooperation Council, a Berlin-based think tank said: "It is rather puzzling that on the one hand, the EU speaks of 'a complete export ban' on radioactive waste and spent fuel, and on the other points out that 'exports to countries outside the EU are allowed under very strict and binding conditions: the third country needs to have a final repository in operation, when the waste is being shipped'."
The EU export ban also refers to the Antarctic, which is protected by the Antarctic Treaty System or ATS. The Antarctic is earth's only continent without a native human population.
The treaty, entering into force in 1961 and eventually signed by 47 countries, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on that continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. The Antarctic Treaty Secretariat headquarters have been located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since September 2004.
The main treaty was opened for signature on December 1, 1959, and officially entered into force on June 23, 1961.The original signatories were the 12 countries active in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–58 and willing to accept a U.S. invitation to the conference at which the treaty was negotiated.
The 12 countries that proclaimed significant interests in Antarctica at the time were: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the then Soviet Union (now Russia), the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries had established over 50 Antarctic stations for the IGY. The treaty was described as a diplomatic expression of the operational and scientific cooperation that had been achieved "on the ice".
According to the treaty, the area is to be used "for peaceful purposes only; military activity, such as weapons testing, is prohibited but military personnel and equipment may be used for scientific research or any other peaceful purpose;" and "freedom of scientific investigations and cooperation shall continue".
The think tank wondered whether such freedom would allow for 'scientific research' related to radioactive waste and spent fuel management in the region.
THE DIRECTIVE
The directive approved more than 50 years after the first nuclear power reactor became operational in the UK in 1956, had been proposed by the European Commission (EC), EU's executive arm, on November 3, 2010. Now that it has been agreed, the decree will enter into force "at the latest in September this year", and member states have to submit the first national programmes in 2015.
Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said: "Safety concerns all citizens and all EU countries, whether they are in favour or against nuclear energy. We have to make sure that we have the highest safety standards in the world to protect our citizen, our water and the ground against nuclear contamination. Safety is indivisible. If an accident happens in one country, it can have devastating effects also in others."
The remarks by Oettinger, who was prime minister of the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg for five years before taking the job in Brussels in February 2010, reflect the deep concern tangoed with highly emotional debate in Germany for several decades on the issue of radioactive and spent fuel management.
Oettinger said the directive was "a major achievement for nuclear safety in the EU", and added: "After years of inaction, the EU for the very first time commits itself to a final disposal of nuclear waste. With this directive, the EU becomes the most advanced region for the safe management of radioactive waste and spent fuel."
Oettinger's communication experts say that the directive obliges all EU member states to present national programmes, indicating when, where and how they will construct and manage final repositories aimed at guaranteeing the highest safety standards. "With the directive internationally agreed safety standards become legally binding and enforceable in the European Union," an official media release said.
"The Commission will closely and carefully monitor the implementation of the new directive, in particular progress made in building disposal facilities for radioactive waste and spent fuel and, if they occur at a later stage, possible exports of radioactive material," the media release added.
"It is necessary that now all Member States deal with radioactive waste in a responsible and transparent manner and establish national frameworks and programs for the management of all types of radioactive waste and spent fuel. The generations benefiting from nuclear power and applications of radioactive materials should also take care of the waste and the financing thereof," the media release said.
All EU member states produce radioactive waste, generated by various activities, such as electricity generation, medicine, research, industry and agriculture. 14 out of 27 member states have nuclear reactors which generate also spent fuel. Its safe management is therefore a challenge for all member states, irrespective of their stance on nuclear, official sources insist.
"While low and medium level radioactive waste is increasingly being taken care of, there is not yet a single final repository for high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel," the EU informs, adding: "It is likely, however, that the first such repositories will be opened between 2020 and 2025 in several EU member states."
Besides, the Commission proposes to set up an EU legally binding and enforceable framework to ensure that all member states will apply the common standards developed in the context of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for all stages of spent fuel and radioactive waste management up to final disposal.
Energy Commissioner Oettinger's communication experts have pre-empted a series of questions: "Will the EU have binding standards for managing radioactive waste in the EU? Including final repositories for nuclear waste from nuclear power plants? Will member states have to notify detailed programmes on when and how they will build these repositories?"
"The answer to all these questions," they say, "is: Yes."
EU FRAMEWORK
EU sources said that while reaffirming the ultimate responsibility of member states for the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste, the directive "creates a strong EU framework with important obligations imposed on member states".
In particular:
- Member states will have to draw up national programmes and notify them to the Commission by 2015 at the latest. The Commission will examine them and can require changes. National programmes have to include plans with a concrete timetable for the construction of disposal facilities, as well as a description of the activities needed for the implementation of disposal solutions, costs assessments and a description of the financing schemes. They will have to be updated regularly.
- Safety standards drawn up by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) become legally binding on EU member states.
- Information shall be made available to the general public and workers. The public shall also be given the opportunities to participate effectively in the decision-making process.
Besides, member states are required to invite periodically international peer reviews "to exchange experience and ensure the application of the highest standards." This shall be done at least every 10 years. Lastly, two or more EU member states can agree to use a disposal facility in one of them.
