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 First National Report

The responsibility for the governance of Australia is shared by Australia's federal government (also known as the Commonwealth government) and the governments of the six states and two self governing territories. Responsibility for radiation health and safety in each State and Territory rests with the respective State/Territory government, unless the activity is carried out by a Commonwealth agency or a contractor to a Commonwealth agency; in those cases the activity is regulated by the Federal government (Commonwealth government of Australia).

There are no nuclear power stations and no nuclear fuel cycle activities in Ireland. There are 2.5 tonnes of natural uranium in storage on the campus of a university, which was previously incorporated in a sub-critical assembly. This material is stored in the building in which it was previously used. Other than in relation to these uranium sources, the application of the Convention is limited to radioactive waste arising from the medical, industrial and research applications of radioisotopes.

Spent fuel in Sweden emanates mainly from four commercial nuclear power plants. In addition there is one material testing reactor and one research reactor. The radioactive waste originates from the nuclear power industry as well as medical use, industry, research and consumer products.

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.

The present document constitutes the First National Report of Spain, drawn up in order to meet the requirements of Article 32 of the Joint Convention on the safety of spent fuel management and on the safety of radioactive waste management, adopted in Vienna on 5th September 1997. This Convention, which was signed by Spain on 30th June 1998 and ratified on 11th May 1999, entered into force on 18th June 2001.

The Korean government has maintained a consistent national policy for stable energy supply by fostering nuclear power industries under the circumstances that energy resources are scare in the country. Korea has one of the most dynamic nuclear power programs in the world. For a couple of decades, Korea has deployed very dynamic nuclear power program. The first nuclear power plant (NPP), Kori #1, started its commercial operation in April 1978. As of September 2002, there are 17 units of nuclear power plants in operation and 3 units under construction_.

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).

Spent fuel and radioactive waste management constitutes the final stage in power production at nuclear power plants and utilisation of ionising radiation sources in medicine, agriculture, industry and science. The importance of this stage for environmental protection, public health and safety can be hardly overestimated. The future of nuclear energy in Ukraine and worldwide depends upon effective state policy and successful practices in the safe management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.

This report is the National Report submitted by the Czech Republic for the purposes of assessment meeting of the parties to the Joint Convention. Its objective is to describe the fulfillment status of obligations under the Joint Convention in the Czech Republic as on 31 December 2002. The outline of the National Report is based on recommendations approved at the preparatory meeting of the parties to the Joint Convention in December 2001 and contained in the „Guidelines regarding the form and structure of national reports (JC-SFRW/PREP/FINAL/DOCUMENT 3)“ of 13 December 2001.