Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, National Report by Ireland, October 2011

Ireland became a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1970. In March, 2000, Ireland was the 25th State to ratify the IAEA Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, thus bringing the Convention into force. This, Ireland’s Fourth National Report under the terms of the Convention, details the framework of appropriate legislation, regulatory and administrative measures necessary for the implementation of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management in Ireland. It also sets out measures adopted to implement the relevant obligations of the Convention noting that Ireland does not have any spent nuclear fuel to deal with. This National Report has been prepared taking into account comments and questions on Ireland’s previous Report of 2008 and is laid out according to the requirements and headings contained in the IAEA Information Circular INFCIRC/604 of July 2002 (Ref 1) and according to the definitions in the IAEA INFCIRC/546 December 1997. Ireland is also a member of the EU and, therefore, transposes into its national legislation, EU Council Directives concerning the safety of nuclear installations and spent fuel, radioactive waste and radiation protection measures for workers and the public. In addition, Ireland is a signatory to a number of international Conventions and Agreements which contain elements relating to nuclear and radiological matters, including the OSPAR Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic. Where relevant, these are referred to later in the report. Ireland currently meets its electricity requirements from a combination of thermal and renewable energy sources. Ireland has chosen not to develop a nuclear power industry and the Government has no plans for a change of policy in this respect. Factors informing the formation of this policy include concerns about public health and safety, environmental protection and security, as well as concern at the continued absence of an acceptable solution to the problem of the long-term management of the large quantities of radioactive waste produced by nuclear power stations. Ireland has: 􏰇 No nuclear power stations. 􏰇 No defence reactors for research or other purposes. 􏰇 No spent nuclear reactor fuel in storage or awaiting treatment and no associated spent fuel reprocessing facilities of any sort. 􏰇 No trans-boundary movement of spent nuclear fuel from other countries across its territory, nor through its territorial waters. Moreover, Ireland has no civilian research reactors (including those for production of isotope sources, any requirements for which are met by importing sources in a readymade form). However, like all modern societies, Ireland uses radioactive materials in the form of sealed and unsealed sources in support of its high technology industries and its medical and other societal infrastructure. These activities give rise to waste materials such as disused sealed sources. There is also a quantity of natural uranium that was previously incorporated in a sub-critical assembly in a university details of which are included in this report. There are also small amounts of naturally occurring radioactive materials that are produced and also discharged as a result of Ireland’s exploitation of natural resources. Ireland, therefore, has a small but well-developed infrastructure to control and monitor these materials and to provide the necessary protection of public and workers health. This is exercised through the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) which is the national competent authority and regulatory body for regulating, inter alia, the custody, use and disposal of radioactive substances and irradiating apparatus (See Section E Article 20 for functions of the RPII). In late 2010 the Government adopted a policy outlining principles and key future steps to be taken with regard to Radioactive Waste Management in Ireland. Further detail on this policy is given in Section B of this report. In respect of Article 32 of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, Ireland’s National Report focuses on radioactive waste arising from the medical, industrial and research applications of radioisotopes. The scope of the application of the Convention states that the Convention shall not apply to waste that contains only naturally occurring radioactive materials and that does not originate from the nuclear fuel cycle, unless it constitutes a disused sealed source or it is declared as radioactive waste for the purposes of this Convention by the Contracting Party. To demonstrate Ireland’s commitment to safety and the protection of its population from all sources of ionising radiation, reference is made in this National Report to the control of such sources and materials.