Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The following countries align themselves with this statement: North Macedonia^*, Montenegro^*, Albania^*, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina^*, Georgia, Iceland⁺, Norway⁺ and San Marino.

The EU and its Member States attach utmost importance to nuclear safety and its continuous improvement and strengthening. We must avoid complacency to avoid nuclear incidents and accidents, including those with possible off-site consequences. Promoting leadership and management for safety, including an effective safety culture, is of utmost importance. It is equally important to implement adequate safety improvements and strive for the highest possible safety for nuclear installations, radioactive waste, transport and radiation protection, mindful of the IAEA safety standards. We highlight the importance of further strengthening the independence and capacity of the regulatory authorities, which should be endowed with adequate human and financial resources to fulfil their tasks.

Chair,

Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its continued armed attacks on the Ukrainian territory and its attempted illegal seizure of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) remain a matter of grave concern to the European Union. We continue to condemn this aggression in the strongest possible terms. Russia bears full responsibility for endangering nuclear safety in Ukraine, in Europe and beyond.  

We are extremely concerned about the deterioration of the already precarious situation at the ZNPP, including   the collapse of the downstream Kakhovka dam and the continued military activity in the area, including reported missile attacks on the nearby localities where many of the ZNPP staff live and landmine explosions in the vicinity of the site. The seven indispensable pillars of nuclear safety and security, deriving from the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance outlined by the IAEA Director General, must be ensured during an armed conflict.  Russia must stop its unlawful aggression against Ukraine and immediately withdraw all its armed forces and military equipment from the Zaporizhzhia NPP and the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. We reiterate the importance of complying with the five principles, as presented by the IAEA Director General to the UNSC.

Chair,

Well-educated, trained and qualified staff is an essential requirement for the safe implementation of all nuclear activities and for all engaged stakeholders. It is therefore of strategic importance to build, maintain and further develop human capacity and a high level of nuclear expertise and skills in IAEA Member States. We call on the Agency to effectively use the existing instruments and to explore further tools to support its Member States in nuclear safety capacity-building and knowledge management.

The EU continues to support nuclear safety improvements worldwide, including through the implementation of EU-methodology stress tests and the European Instrument for International Nuclear Safety Cooperation (EI-INSC), with a budget of € 300 million for 2021-2027.

We appreciate the Agency´s continued commitment to maintaining fully applicable and up-to-date Safety Standards and, as appropriate, considering the nuclear safety implications of situations involving armed attacks.

We encourage all IAEA Member States, which have not done so, to request the Agency’s peer review and advisory services, to implement findings in a timely manner and to publish mission reports for transparency. The value the EU places on IAEA peer reviews, such as IRRS and ARTEMIS, is reflected in its ongoing financial contribution towards these programmes.

The EU, and its Member States, attach the utmost importance to external hazards, most notably in the site selection and the operation of nuclear installations., Due consideration should be given to safety implications from seismic hazards and those related to the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions.

The EU welcomes the IAEA’s real-time monitoring of Japan’s release of the treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (the Advanced Liquid Processing System - ALPS) into the ocean in order to confirm that the process is in line with international safety standards. We take note with satisfaction of the on-site expertise and regular reports issued by the Agency which foster transparency and provide relevant information to the international community. The EU has voluntarily contributed €1 million to support the IAEA and its experts in carrying out this important task.

We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to all relevant international nuclear safety conventions, in particular the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS) and the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (JC), and encourage all IAEA Member States to join them. We underline the need for all Contracting Parties to fulfil and abide by their legal obligations and consistently address nuclear safety issues. We call upon the Agency to continue outreach activities to promote the universalisation and implementation of these instruments.

The recent Joint 8th and 9th Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety confirmed a number of shared priorities, such as strengthening national regulatory capabilities, emergency preparedness and response arrangements and securing reliable supply chains as a prerequisite of safe and reliable operation of nuclear installations, inter alia in view of new/alternative suppliers.

In addition, the impact of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine also affecting the safety of its nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities, was highlighted in a number of national reports, presentations and country group discussions and reflected in several major common issues agreed in the summary report. In particular, Western European regulators have reinforced their cooperation on emergency preparedness and response by assessing potential radiological consequences of a nuclear accident in light of the situation in Ukraine, in particular to help a better coordinated response at European level, should an accident occur, including comprehensive and fact-based information to the public.

We underline the continued need for all Contracting Parties to fulfil their legal obligations, address their nuclear safety issues and major common issues, and fully participate in future Review Meetings to ensure a robust peer review process. The growing number of Contracting Parties to the nuclear safety and emergency Conventions, and the political commitments towards the implementation of the Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources are welcome trends. We call upon the Agency to continue outreach activities to promote the universalisation and implementation of these instruments. We also welcome the growth of the IAEA’s Response and Assistance Network (RANET), which strengthens global response capacities.

Effective emergency preparedness and response (EPR) arrangements and capabilities should be a priority for every IAEA Member State. We encourage all IAEA Member States to utilise the established channels and existing operating arrangements to share notifications and monitor data, and to coordinate their efforts for responding to a nuclear event.

Further development of decommissioning strategies and plans, including financing and work on radioactive waste and spent fuel disposal solutions, is essential and should be addressed early in any nuclear power or radiation technology programme.

We urge IAEA Member States to take appropriate steps to avoid imposing an undue burden on future generations by seeking and applying transparent, safe and long-term management solutions for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. We call upon IAEA Member States to implement these solutions in a timely and coherent manner and we stand ready to share our expertise. We call upon the Agency to continue advancing discussions on deep geological disposal and related safety, security and safeguards aspects.

Regarding ageing management and long-term operation (LTO), we recall the need to systematically consider elements related to human resources policies and knowledge transfer between generations. We welcome and encourage the continuation of the Agency’s work and assistance to Member States in this view, especially via Safety Aspects of Long Term Operation (SALTO) missions.

We welcome the Secretariat’s continued efforts to systematically tackle safety aspects of ageing management, including physical ageing and technical obsolescence, and long-term operation. We encourage the IAEA to further enhance its assistance to its Member States in capacity-building and knowledge management.

We appreciate the IAEA’s efforts focusing on the interface between nuclear safety and nuclear security. We expect the Agency to continue addressing the existing challenges in a coherent, coordinated and integrated manner.

We continue to closely follow the activities conducted under the Agency-wide platform on SMRs, and the Director General’s Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization (NHSI) Initiative. We call on the Secretariat to consolidate different views expressed at the last plenary of NHSI, and to provide for a comprehensive and consistent vision for further development of the initiative.

The European nuclear industry, research community and national nuclear regulators are closely collaborating since the beginning of 2022 within the European SMR pre-Partnership. The EU and its Member States remain committed to ensuring the highest possible level of nuclear safety of SMRs in compliance with the IAEA’s safety standards and attach importance to their policy regarding the development of regulatory infrastructures. We encourage the Agency to continue to attach due emphasis to these aspects and to provide assistance to interested Member States in this regard.

With these comments, the EU takes note of the Report on Nuclear and Radiation Safety 2023 as contained in document GOV/2023/36.

Thank you, Chair.

* Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

+ Iceland and Norway are members of the EFTA and of the European Economic Area.