National Report of Brazill 2011 for the 4th Review Meeting of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management

On 29 September 1997, the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management was open for signature at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Brazil signed the Convention on October 11th, 1997 and ratified it by the Legislative Decree 1019 of November 14th, 2005. Brazil deposited the instrument of ratification with the Depositary on 17 February 2006. Brazil has not participated in the First Review Meeting and presented the National Report for the Second Review Meeting under the condition of “late ratifier”. Therefore, the Report was not reviewed by the Parties according to the normal review process. The National Report of Brazil 2008 was presented to the Parties of the Convention within the time schedule for review. Thereby, Brazil participated in the Third Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Joint Convention in May 2009, in Vienna, Austria. This present report, an update of the Brazilian National Report presented to the Joint Convention in October 2008, contains a description of the Brazilian policy and program related to the safety of nuclear energy, and an article-by-article description of the measures Brazil is taking to implement the Convention obligations, according to the format of document INFIRC/604. The Brazilian National Report 2011 was prepared by a group composed of representatives of the various Brazilian organizations with responsibilities related to safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste. The Convention objectives are to achieve and maintain a high level of nuclear safety worldwide in spent fuel and radioactive waste management. One of the obligations of the Parties to the Convention is the preparation of a periodical National Report describing the measures taken to implement each of the obligations of the Convention, including a description of the policies and practices related to spent fuel and radioactive waste management and an inventory of related material and facilities.