Joint Convention Activities

Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (Joint Convention) Following the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, a need arose for formal international agreements to promote a global culture for the safe use of nuclear materials. During the drafting of the Convention on Nuclear Safety, directed at the safety of Nuclear Power Plant operations, it became apparent that another agreement was needed to cover facilities other than Nuclear Power Plants - specifically those used to manage spent fuel and radioactive waste. To meet this need the Joint Convention was drafted and adopted at a Diplomatic Conference in September 1997. It went into force on June 18, 2001, when 25 countries ratified and deposited articles with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The United States ratified the Joint Convention and became a formal party on July 14, 2003. The Joint Convention establishes a series of broad commitments with respect to the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management without prescribing specific or mandatory standards on Contracting Parties. The Convention does not delineate the standards the Parties must meet with respect to safe management, but Parties are required to “take the appropriate steps” to ensure the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management and report fully as described in the Convention. Every 3 years, each Joint Convention Contracting Party must prepare a National Report covering the scope of the Joint Convention and subject it to a peer review. The Parties meet and complete the peer review in confidential discussions. The National Reports explain the scope of the Joint Convention, list spent fuel and radioactive waste management facilities, inventories and facilities being decommissioned, describe the regulatory and legal framework, provide information on general and specific safety practices, and describe policies and practices for “transboundary” movements and management of disused sealed sources. The peer review process identifies good practices and highlights areas where improvements are needed, which are in turn reviewed at subsequent triennial review meetings of the Contracting Parties. The participation provides benefits to the United States. These include: with other Parties harmonizing international approaches to achieve strong and effective nuclear safety programs on a global scale, stimulating initiatives to improve safety systems within our own domestic programs, learning about technical innovations of other Contracting Parties that might apply here, and identifying future areas for bilaterial and multilateral technical and regulatory cooperation and opportunities for U.S. vendors and suppliers to broaden their market. The First National Report was issued in May 2003, and the international peer review meeting was held in November 2003 in Vienna, Austria. The Second National Report was issued in October 2005, and the international peer review was completed in May 2006. The Third National Report was issued in October 2008, and the international peer review is scheduled for May 2009. More information in the Joint Convention is available from IAEA .