This report describes the actions taken in Argentina on the safety of spent fuel management
(SF) and on the safety of radioactive waste management, in order to provide evidence of the
fulfillment of its obligations under the Joint Convention. To facilitate the reading and a better
understanding of this report a summary of those parts of the 1st Report that were considered
necessary have been included.

The present National Report describes the actions taken in Argentina on the safety of spent fuel
(SF) management and on the safety of radioactive waste (RW) management, in order to provide
evidence of the fulfilment of the obligations derived from the Joint Convention. To facilitate the
reading and a better understanding, it has been decided to include a summary of those parts of
the two prior National Reports that are considered necessary in order to comply with this
objective.

The 7th Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC) National Workshop and Community Visit was held on 7-9 April 2009 in Bar-le-Duc, France. It was organized with teh assistance of the CLIS (the Local Information and Oversight Committee) and the financial and logistical support of Andra, France's National Agency for the Management of Radioactive Waste.

The management of spent fuel from nuclear power
plants has become a major policy issue for virtually every
nuclear power program in the world. For the nuclear industry, finding sufficient capacity for storage and processing or
disposal of spent fuel is essential if nuclear power plants are
to be allowed to continue to operate. At the same time, the
options chosen for spent fuel management can have a substantial impact on the political controversies, proliferation
risks, environmental hazards, and economic costs of the

Passed in 1982, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) was an effort to establish an explicit statutory basis for the Department of Energy (DOE) to dispose of the nation’s most highly radioactive nuclear waste. The NWPA requires DOE to remove spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants, in exchange for a fee, and transport it to a permanent geologic repository or an interim storage facility before permanent disposal. Defense-related high-level<br>waste is to go into the same repository.

The Blue Ribbon Commission on America&#39;s Nuclear Future was formed by the Secretary of<br/>Energy at the direction of the President. The Commission was formed to conduct a<br/>comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, including<br/>all alternatives for the storage, processing, and disposal of civilian and defense used nuclear fuel,<br/>high–level waste, and materials derived from nuclear activities.

This report provides - a detailed description of the Austrian policy and the usual practices concerning the management of spent fuel of the Austrian research reactors and the management of radioactive waste (see Section B); - a detailed description of the Austrian legal regime concerning the management of spent fuel of the Austrian research reactors and the management of radioactive waste (see Section E).

Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, Answers to Questions Posted by the Contracting Parties on the Argentina Second National Report

. 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 already drawn the second 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 United States of America ratified the “Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management” (Joint Convention) on April 9, 2003. The Joint Convention establishes an international peer review process among Contracting Parties and provides incentives for nations to take appropriate steps to bring their nuclear activities into compliance with general safety standards and practices. This first Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties under the Joint Convention is scheduled to take place in November 2003 in Vienna, Austria.

Finland signed the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management on 2 October 1997 and deposited the tools of acceptance on 10 February 2000. The Convention entered into force on 18 June 2001. The major generators of radioactive waste in Finland are the two nuclear power plants, the Loviisa and Olkiluoto plants. The Loviisa plant has two PWR units, operated by Fortum Power and Heat Oy, and the Olkiluoto plant two BWR units, operated by Teollisuuden Voima Oy.

On 8 December 1997 Belgium has signed the Joint Convention. The Belgian legislator has expressed its consent with the obligations resulting from the Convention via the Law of 2 August 2002. The ratification was obtained on 5 September 2002. The Convention became effective on 4 December 2002, or 90 days after the Ratification Act had been deposited. Belgium belongs to the group of Contracting Parties having at least one operational nuclear generating unit on their territory.

Denmark signed the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management 29 September 1997, the day it opened for signature. The Convention was accepted 3 September 1999 by letter from the Foreign Ministry to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Until further notice the Convention does not apply for the autonomous territories Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which both do not possess spent nuclear fuel or radioactive waste. The present report is the Danish National Report for the Second Review Meeting to the Convention.

Nuclear facilities in Japan are as listed in the following table, the details of which are described in Section D.