United Arab Emirates, First National Report on Compliance with the Obligations of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management

A.1 This is the United Arab Emirates (UAE) first national report on compliance with the obligations of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (the Joint Convention). The UAE deposited its instrument of accession to the Joint Convention on 31 July 2009 and under Article (40) the Joint Convention entered into force for the UAE 90 days later on 29 October 2009. A.2 The report describes the basic policy and legal framework being established by the UAE for spent fuel management and radioactive waste management. The initial framework is contained in the Policy of the United Arab Emirates on the Evaluation and Potential Development of Peaceful Nuclear Energy (hereafter referred to as the UAE Policy Paper and attached as Annex 1) and the Federal Law by Decree No 6 of 2009 Concerning the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (hereafter referred to as the Nuclear Law and attached as Annex 2 in unofficial translation). A.3 The report describes the UAE’s existing and planned arrangements for radioactive waste management for radioactive waste arising in medical, industrial and research applications. It also describes the broad plans and arrangements under development by the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) for management of spent fuel and radioactive waste generated by the UAE nuclear energy program. A.4 The progress in establishing regulatory arrangements by the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) is also described in some detail as this is the UAE’s first report. A.5 The report describes the UAE’s compliance as at October 2011. The UAE will expect to be able to report at the Fourth Review Meeting in May 2012 on further progress in spent fuel management and radioactive waste management, including: • The results of a survey of radioactive waste inventories held by licensed users of radioactive material • Adoption of a national radioactive waste classification scheme based upon the IAEA safety guide No GSG-1 • Further steps towards developments of an overall strategy for disposal of spent fuel/ radioactive waste, including outcomes from a current project undertaken by international consultants steered by ENEC, FANR and the Ministry of foreign Affairs. • Progress with radioactive waste management at ENEC, including: • Guidelines for minimization of waste volume • The proposed plant design including storage of low and intermediate waste at plant site for a minimum of 10 years • The following measures being taken by ENEC for the management of spent fuel • The design of the Braka Nuclear Power Plant having sufficient capacity in the spent fuel storage pool for 20 years of operation for each NPP • ENEC’s intended establishment of an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) to support on-going operations. The ISFSI will be established before the spent fuel pools reach their capacity • ENEC’s progress in looking at long term spent fuel disposal options that include fuel take-back, reprocessing outside of UAE and repositories inside or outside of UAE. A.6 The UAE nuclear programme is in its early stages. But the UAE accepts that it is not too early to plan for spent fuel and radioactive waste management. In doing so, it will apply the same commitment to highest international standards of safety, security and non- proliferation as it has committed to throughout its peaceful nuclear energy program.