The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management: An Instrument to Achieve a Global Safety

The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (the Joint Convention) is the first legally binding international treaty in the area of radioactive material management. It was adopted by a Diplomatic Conference in September 1997 and opened for signature on 29 September 1997. The Convention entered into force on 18 June 1998, and to date (May 2006) has been ratified by 41 countries. The Joint Convention applies to spent fuel and radioactive waste resulting from civilian application. Its principal aim is to achieve and maintain a high degree of safety in their management worldwide. The Convention is an incentive instrument, not designed to ensure fulfilment of obligations through control and sanction, but by a volunteer peer review mechanism. The obligations of the Contracting Parties are mainly based on the international safety standards developed by the IAEA in past decades. The Convention is of interest of all countries generating radioactive waste. Therefore it is relevant not only for those using nuclear power, but for any country holding radioactive materials from application of nuclear energy in education, agriculture, medicine and industry, or from uranium mining and production. Obligations of Contracting Parties include attending a Review Meeting held every 3 years and prepare National Reports for review by the other Contracting Parties. In the National Reports basic information on inventory and facilities for management of radioactive materials has to be provided. Non-nuclear countries with radioactive materials under the scope of the Convention can benefit from the exchange of information and the technical knowledge gained by the reporting procedure set up by the Convention. The second Review Meeting was held at IAEA headquarters from 15 to 26 May 2006. This paper presents the objectives and the implementation status of the Convention, the expected outcome for the worldwide safety, and the benefits for a country to be part of it.