Scope and procedure

Member States are required to provide the Commission with a large amount of information (submission of general data) on any plan to construct, modify or dismantle an installation that may give rise to discharges of radioactive effluents.

The Commission sends the general data to the experts, who, in collaboration with the Commission, draw up a report containing a succinct description of the plan and the planned safety devices, as well as an analysis of the potential radiological consequences of:

• releases of gaseous radioactive effluents in normal conditions;
• releases of liquid radioactive effluents in normal conditions;
• disposal of solid radioactive waste in normal conditions, and
• unplanned releases of radioactive effluents that may occur in the event of an accident.

Health aspects are the main consideration in evaluating radioactive waste disposal plans within the context of Article 37 of the Treaty.  Hence, the report ends by stating whether, and to what extent, implementation of the plan is liable to result in the radioactive contamination of another Member State that is significant from the point of view of health.

Based on the expert report and after an inter-service consultation, the Commission adopts, through a Written Procedure, an Opinion which is then notified, together with the experts’ report, to the government of the Member State that submitted the plan. According to the 1986 Court of Justice case relating to the Cattenom nuclear power station (Judgment of the Court of 22 September 1988, Land de Sarre and others v Ministre de l’industrie, Case C-187/87) Commission Recommendation 2010/635/Euratom gives guidance on the implementation of Article 37.  The recommendation and its annexes define the information that a general data submission has to contain in order to enable the Commission to come to a well-founded Opinion.