Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina[1] and Georgia, the EFTA countries Iceland and Liechtenstein, members of the European Economic Area, as well as San Marino, align themselves with this statement.

The EU and its Member States attach utmost importance and give due priority to nuclear safety and its continuous improvement and strengthening. In order to prevent nuclear incidents and accidents, including those with possible off-site consequences, we must avoid complacency. Promoting leadership and management for safety, including a strong safety culture, is essential. It is important to implement adequate safety improvements and strive for the highest possible nuclear safety and radiation protection, mindful of the IAEA safety standards. We encourage the establishment of a new long-term plan to ensure a systematic approach for their development without undue delay.

We stress the importance to further strengthen the independence and capacity of the regulatory authorities who should be endowed with adequate human and financial resources to fulfil their tasks.

The EU continues to support nuclear safety improvements in Europe through the transparent implementation of EU Stress Tests and Topical Peer Reviews, and worldwide through the European Instrument for International Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC), with a budget of €300 million for 2021-2027.

Chair,

On this very day two years ago, Russia marched its troops into Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). The EU reiterates its utmost concern over the nuclear safety and security risks caused by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its attempted illegal seizure of the ZNPP, which we will never recognise.  We continue to support the Agency’s crucial missions in Ukraine and stress the importance of respecting the Director General’s Seven Pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security during an armed conflict. Staffing is one of the key safety issues at the ZNPP, and the situation continues to deteriorate following the denial of access of Ukraine’s Energoatom staff to the site. We will address this and other nuclear safety issues in Ukraine under item 8.

Chair,

The growing number of Contracting Parties to various nuclear safety, early notification and assistance Conventions and the political commitments towards the implementation of the Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources are welcome trends.

EU Member States remain fully committed to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS), including the Vienna Declaration, and welcome the successful outcome of the Joint 8th and 9th Review Meeting in 2023. It would be beneficial if the IAEA's Nuclear Safety Review 2024 would reflect on the outcomes of the CNS Review Meeting on the issue of nuclear safety in armed conflicts. Concerning the review process under the CNS, we encourage all Contracting Parties to engage actively in the ongoing working group discussions on potential changes to the respective Guidelines.

In view of the upcoming 5th Extraordinary Meeting under the Joint Convention (on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management), we count on the full engagement of all Contracting Parties. Noting the expansion of the use of radioactive material for peaceful purposes in various economic areas, we call on all IAEA Member States to adhere to the Joint Convention and on the Secretariat to intensify its outreach efforts.

The IAEA peer reviews and advisory services play an important role for the continuous improvement of safety. We are committed to implement their findings in a timely manner and to publish the mission reports for further transparency. We also encourage others to do so. We welcome the high demand for OSART and SALTO missions and encourage Member States to request also IRRS and ARTEMIS missions. These are an important tools to assess and improve nuclear safety, radioactive waste and spent fuel management, decommissioning and remediation programmes to avoid undue burden on future generations

The EU welcomes the IAEA’s real-time monitoring and reporting of Japan’s release of the treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean in order to confirm that the process is in line with international safety standards. We value efforts to foster transparency and to provide relevant information to the international community.

Chair,

The EU remains committed to ensuring the highest level of nuclear safety of SMRs, in accordance with IAEA safety standards. In this regard, we attach great importance to the development of regulatory infrastructures and capacity building. We encourage the Agency to continue to attach due emphasis to these aspects and to provide assistance to interested Member States. We participate actively in the Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI) and note the establishment of the NHSI Special Task Force to coordinate the Agency’s activities in the area of SMRs. We are looking forward to the further outcomes from the review of IAEA safety standards to ensure the safety of SMR technologies.

Well-educated, trained and qualified staff is an essential requirement for the safe implementation of all nuclear activities. It is therefore of strategic importance to build, maintain and further develop human capacity and a high level of nuclear expertise and skills, as well as to ensure continuity of knowledge in Member States, including for long-term operation.

We would welcome further information from the Secretariat regarding the overarching Strategic Approach in capacity building for Nuclear, Radiation, Transport, Waste Safety and Emergency Preparedness and Response.

Furthermore, we look forward to the IAEA Technical Document on reviewing challenges in the application of the Agency’s safety standards and nuclear security guidance in armed conflicts.

Chair,

The draft Nuclear Safety Review 2024 could still benefit from some further elaboration in areas such as emergency preparedness and response, the CNS Review Meeting outcomes, and Artificial Intelligence. With these remarks, we take note of the Nuclear Safety Review 2024 contained in document GOV/2024/3.

Thank you, Chair.

[1] North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.