Waste Management

Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management

Introduction

The Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management group has the responsibility for development of safety standards related to both the predisposal management of radioactive waste and to its disposal. It also has the responsibility to assist Member States in the use and application of these standards. These responsibilities are discharged in a range of activities.

Both the development of standards and the activities related to their use and application are influenced by the needs of Member States. Such needs are identified from the outcome of international conferences, from the safety standards development committees and from direct contact with Member States. A significant development for the safety of radioactive waste management at a global level was the coming into force of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.

Prior to the coming into force of this convention the Agency convened an international conference on the safety of radioactive waste management in Cordoba, Spain in May 2000, based upon which an Action Plan was formulated and endorsed by the General Conference in September 2001 and which gave emphasis to a number of waste safety activities. The action plan was updated in light of the deliberations of the following two conferences:

The actions from the plan have been progressively integrated into the regular work unit, which has also been adjusted based on the outcome of the International Conference on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Disposal, held in Tokyo, Japan, October, 2005.

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