Czech Republic National Report under the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management

On 25 March 1999 the government of the Czech Republic approved the Joint Convention which came into effect in the Czech Republic on 18 June 2001. In agreement with the obligations resulting from its accession to the Joint Convention the Czech Republic has drawn already the fourth National Report for the purposes of review meetings of the contracting parties, which describes the system of spent fuel and radioactive waste management in the scope required by selected articles of the Joint Convention. The information contained in the report were gathered and updated as at 31 December 2010, unless stated otherwise. Meanwhile, at the national level the National Report serves as a source of up-to-date publicly available information (http://www.sujb.cz) on methods of spent fuel and radioactive waste management in all facilities subject to the Joint Convention. Results from the first three review meetings of the Contracting Parties to the Joint Convention in 2003, 2006 and 2009 and the existing practices make it possible to conclude that spent fuel and radioactive waste in the Czech Republic is managed fully in compliance with the Joint Convention articles. The Atomic Act and its implementing decrees form a legislative base for all activities in spent fuel and radioactive waste management and clearly define responsibilities of license holders for the achieved level of nuclear safety, radiation protection, emergency preparedness and physical protection. Specific activities completed and started before the end of 2010 have ensured that: • the long-term storage of spent fuel from all operated nuclear power plants at the territory of the Czech Republic complies with the adopted government Policy using type-approved casks placed in dry spent fuel storage facilities at NPP Dukovany and NPP Temelín sites, • new immobilization technologies have been tested and used on both the plants for operational sludge and ion exchangers so that the resulting radioactive waste form can be safely disposed in the Dukovany disposal facility • safe storage and disposal of all categories of operating and institutional low- and intermediate level waste continued in near-surface repositories operated by the state organization SÚRAO, established by MPO to provide for activities associated with radioactive waste disposal. • most of old environmental liabilities on the ÚJV _e_ a. s. site have been remedied. The following activities, which have been planned for 2010 – 2013 to improve safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management should be mentioned: • preparation of the new Atomic Act that will take into account experience from the period of application of the current Act No. 18/1997 Coll. and related legislative regulations and that will use new recommendations of international institutions (IAEA, EC, WENRA). A significant role in a proper setup of the regulation will be also played by changes in the organization and funding of SÚJB, which have been the subject matter of amending of the existing Act No. 18/1997 Coll., • updating of the national Policy, which will particularly take into account generation of spent fuel and radioactive waste from the planned new builds, • continuing project of remedy of environmental liabilities on the ÚJV _e_ a. s. site and refurbishment of technology units to process institutional radioactive waste, • implementation of the IRRS international mission organized by IAEA on a request made by the Czech Republic. In the long-term perspective, the key activity foreseen in the area of spent fuel and radioactive waste management will be the development of a national deep geologic repository which should be commissioned after 2065. In conclusion, SÚJB as the state administration body responsible for elaboration of this report would like to express its thanks for the support provided in the process of National Report development by the following organizations engaged in spent fuel and radioactive waste management in the Czech Republic: ČEZ, a. s., CV Řež s. r. o., ÚJV Řež a. s. and SÚRAO.