Overview

European Nuclear Energy Forum

Public consultations

Nuclear Safety

European Governance in nuclear issues

Radioactive Waste

Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations

Radiation Protection

Transport of Radioactive Material

Nuclear Safeguards

EURATOM Supply Agency

Publications and Reports

Legislation

Introduction

The following sections describe the role and activities of the European Commission, and DG-Energy and Transport (DG-TREN) in particular, in the field of management of radioactive waste both within and outside the European Union. For detailed presentations of the national situations in the EU Member States, refer to the nuclear links page (in particular the radioactive waste management organisations).

First, let's go back to the beginning. In the 1950s, when the EURATOM Treaty was drawn up, nobody was very concerned about the wastes produced by the operation of nuclear power plants. Certainly no one foresaw that the management of radioactive waste would play such a crucial role in the future of the nuclear sector or in the energy / environment debate. Consequently, there is only a very limited reference to this subject in the Treaty.

Nonetheless, the present Community activities grew out of the application of Chapter I of the Treaty (Promotion of Research) and to a lesser extent Chapter II (Dissemination of Information). These activities were carried out by DG XII (Research) and the JRC (Joint Research Centres). However, with the passage of time, the priorities in the radioactive waste debate shifted from research to ones of implementation. As a result, DG XII became increasingly involved in aspects of policy and strategy as well as pure research. Eventually, in the early 1990s, the non-research activities were transferred to DG-Environment (then DG-XI), thus stressing the importance of principles of protection of man and the environment. More recently, following a re-organisation of the Commission's nuclear safety activities in late 2000, these activities are now located within DG-Energy & Transport (DG-TREN), though these same overriding principles of protection of man and the environment remain at the forefront of the Commission's policies.  DG-TREN retains responsibilities in the fields of radioactive waste management policy and nuclear installation safety. In a later re-organisation in February 2003, Radiation protection, for which there is an extensive Community "acquis" under the EURATOM Treaty and derived legislation, has also been moved from DG-Environment to within the responsibility of DG-TREN.