Board of Governors International Atomic Energy Agency - EU Statement on Agenda item 3: Nuclear and Radiation Safety
Chair,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Republic of Moldova, San Marino and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.
Nuclear and radiation safety have utmost priority and must be continuously monitored and strengthened for the benefit of the public and the environment. To uphold this principle, regulatory authorities must remain independent, competent and with sufficient resources, thereby ensuring that safety is not compromised by other competing interests. It is essential to promote leadership and management for safety, including a strong safety culture. We strive for continuous improvement, aiming to achieve the highest possible level of nuclear and radiation safety, an aim confirmed and elaborated in the conclusions of the 8th edition of the European Safety Nuclear Regulators Group (ENSREG) conference held last June.
We underline that the safety of nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes should be preserved in all circumstances, including extreme weather conditions, armed conflicts and pandemics.
Chair,
The EU and its Member States remain deeply concerned over the nuclear and radiation safety and nuclear security risks caused by Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, its seizure of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and the intense military activities in the vicinity of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. Through its actions, Russia seriously endangers nuclear safety and the IAEA’s ongoing monitoring activity. We continue to support the Agency’s crucial missions in Ukraine and stress the importance of respecting the Director General’s seven indispensable pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security during an armed conflict and the five concrete principles. We will address nuclear safety issues in Ukraine in more detail under item 7.
We note the challenge, recognized in the Summary Report of the 10th Review Cycle of the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS), of maintaining safety of nuclear installations and associated safety-related infrastructure in the context of armed conflicts. We call on the Secretariat to keep Member States informed on its review of challenges related to the application of the Nuclear Safety Standards in armed conflicts, as requested by the nuclear and radiation safety resolution adopted by the IAEA General Conference last year.
Chair,
We support and appreciate the Agency’s continued vigilance to ensure that its Safety Standards remain fully applicable and up to date for all nuclear installations. We are looking forward to the implementation of the 2025 strategy for the long-term plan for the IAEA Safety Standards, including the proposed review of applicability to emerging technologies and new challenges. We acknowledge the continued discussion on how fusion energy can best be addressed within the scope of the IAEA Safety Standards and welcome the IAEA’s participation as observer to the ENSREG Task Force on Fusion Energy.
Euratom and its Member States remain fully committed to the CNS, including the Vienna Declaration, and to the Joint Convention. We encourage IAEA Member States to adhere to the safety conventions and to participate actively in review meetings. We commend the Secretariat for its promotion activities and encourage further efforts in this respect, particularly regarding the Joint Convention. We appreciate the efforts of the Contracting Parties to both conventions to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the review processes.
We encourage all IAEA Member States to make use of the IAEA peer review and advisory services and welcome the efforts of the Agency to keep them effective and efficient.
EURATOM continues to promote safety improvements through EU Stress Tests and Topical Peer Reviews. We also remain a major contributor to global nuclear safety assistance and technical cooperation.
We reiterate our support to the IAEA’s work in Fukushima, including through a voluntary contribution of €1 million.
Chair,
We attach great importance to continued cooperation with the IAEA in ensuring that innovative nuclear technologies, such as Small and Advanced Modular Reactors (SMRs and AMRs), are developed and deployed in accordance with international standards for nuclear and radiation safety. Nuclear safety must remain a priority throughout their entire lifecycle, including radioactive waste and spent fuel management as well as decommissioning. We recognise the importance of international cooperation, including the Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative, in addressing regulatory, safety and industry challenges. The European Industrial Alliance on SMRs contributes to these efforts through its Strategic Action Plan, adopted in September 2025, which fosters coordinated actions on, inter alia, safety, regulatory approaches, waste management, and knowledge sharing. In addition, we note with interest the recent launching of the ATLAS initiative which aims at advancing safety and security for the use of nuclear technologies for maritime transport and offshore energy systems.
We highlight advances made within the EU on safe final disposal solutions for high level waste and spent nuclear fuel. The world’s first deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel, expected soon to be licensed for operation, has been assessed by the national regulator to meet requirements for nuclear and radiation safety.
We note the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence and its applications worldwide. We look forward to the IAEA’s TECDOC on Safety and Security Implications of the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Nuclear Installations.
We value the cooperation with the IAEA in the field of non-power applications, including in the safe, secure and reliable transport of radioactive materials, which is essential for the uninterrupted supply of medical radioisotopes. In this respect, we welcome the white paper issued by the Denial of Shipment Working Group to address persistent transport bottlenecks, including shipment denials and delays. EURATOM’s SAMIRA Action Plan and the European Radioisotope Valley Initiative are directed towards strengthening the medical radioisotope supply chain.
Chair,
Human resources are of critical importance for nuclear and radiation safety, and we would like to briefly outline a number of our initiatives on nuclear skills and workforce development. As part of the EURATOM Skills4Nuclear project we will be exploring possible pathways for establishing a European Nuclear Skills Academy. The EU also funds regulatory capacity building by supporting cooperation through exchanges between European regulators with well-established nuclear programmes and those in embarking Member States.
Finally, the European Instrument for International Nuclear Safety Cooperation supports the development of nuclear safety and radiation protection knowledge through transfer of expertise and know-how of our Member States in nuclear safety related international masters’ programmes for partner countries.
With these remarks, we take note of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Report contained in document GOV/2026/42.
Thank you, Chair.