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I.A.E.A. General Conference on nuclear issues

Summary: September 17-21, 2001: 45th Regular Session, I.A.E.A. General Conference. Statement by the European Commission

INTRODUCTION

1. Mr. President, allow me to start with extending my heartfelt condolences to the US delegation and through it my deepest sympathy to the American People. Last week attacks have also terrified the EU as already expressed by the highest EU authorities in their joint statement last week.

2. Mr. President, allow me to congratulate you on your election. The European Commission is convinced that, under your experienced guidance, this Conference will be a success.

3. Mr. Director-General, congratulations on your re-appointment. It has been a privilege and pleasure to work with you over the past four years. The European Commission looks forward to our continued future collaboration.

4. On behalf of the European Commission, I would like to welcome the delegations from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and from Botswana, the two new members of the Agency.

5. The European Commission of course fully shares the views expressed earlier in the General Debate by the EU Council Presidency.

SECURITY OF SUPPLY

6. The nuclear issue has of course to be considered in the general context of energy supply. The security of energy supply issue already formed an important part of the statement of the European Commission to last year's General Conference. In light of the developments over the past year, you will understand that it will also be the case this year. Indeed, security of energy supply is currently one of the essential issues in the European Union. A permanent physical availability for all consumers of energy sources against reasonable prices and allowing for sustainable development is not only important for the good functioning of our economies but indeed is crucial for the well-being of our citizens. The European Union is heavily dependent on external energy supply sources. Already today, 50% of our needs have to be imported and, if the current conditions remain, this would even increase to 70% in 2030. This trend raises many questions. Could the European Union accept becoming dependent for 70% on external supplies in 2030? How could the European Union continue to accept that erratic price changes in oil and gas disrupt our economies and those of non-oil producing developing countries? Important in this IAEA context, and in the light of its Kyoto commitments, how could the European Union do without nuclear energy? For these reasons, on 29 November 2000, the European Commission published its Green Book "Towards a European Strategy for the Security of Energy Supply", an unprecedented, global and totally open debate on the energy supply question. Indeed, today's energy policy has developed into an issue with a Community dimension. Interdependence between Member States has become such that, be it on environmental (particularly climate change) or on internal market questions, any energy policy decision in one European Union Member State is likely to effect the energy market in other Member States. For that reason, uncoordinated national energy policy decisions can no longer be expected to provide satisfactory answers to these questions.

7. Having explained the reason for the debate let me also shortly tell you what the Commission has in mind for a European energy supply policy and how we think that the risks of over-dependence can be reduced in the context of sustainable development. The Commission proposes the development of a demand as well as a supply policy. On the demand side, the Commission considers that 18% of the current total energy consumption could be reduced, especially in the areas of housing and transport, through increased efficiency. Immediately linked to those actions is the creation of a real single gas and electricity market in the European Union. This should be realized in 2005. It is clear that measures on the demand side will have to be accompanied by actions on the supply side. These actions would have to focus on the development of a more dynamic policy for the external supply of hydrocarbons through, for example, the improvement of European Union co-operation with producer countries, the building of strategic relationships and technical assistance. More ambitious in the supply field however is the proposal to further stimulate the development of indigenous energy resources. The Commission has committed itself to increase the current share of 6% of renewables of the total energy consumption in the European Union to 12% in 2010. Another priority will be the development of a "clean coal" technology. Nuclear energy will also have to be considered. This should be done from the security of supply angle, as well as from the greenhouse gas emissions perspective. In particular, the role of nuclear energy, as limiting the growth trend of the greenhouse gas emissions, is often under-estimated. This is in spite of the fact that in 2010, in the European Union alone, the use of nuclear energy will prevent the emission of some 300 million tons of CO2 per year, while producing, over the same period, 35% of the electricity needs of the 390 million inhabitants of the European Union.

8. It is clear that if we want to keep the nuclear option alive complete transparency will have to be provided to the public. There is no place for secrecy. Furthermore, research efforts are required with regard to nuclear waste and safety, as these remain major problems for the development of nuclear energy in the future.

NUCLEAR SAFETY

9. I would now like to turn to the second issue of nuclear safety. For the nuclear sector, it is a first priority to ensure that electricity from nuclear power plants is produced according to the highest internationally recognised safety levels. This, of course, applies also to the European Union and equally to the enlarged Union. Nuclear safety therefore has been highlighted as one of the crucial issues in the enlargement process. A high level of nuclear safety is also required in the candidate countries. To define the European Union's position on the nuclear safety level in these countries, a methodology for the evaluation process was developed. This could be done as, in the European Union, within the framework of national responsibilities for nuclear safety regulation, a high degree of convergence of technical, organisational requirements and good practices has been achieved. This convergence has been developed through voluntary co-operation between Member States and, of course, in international fora such as the I.A.E.A. Indeed a common European Union perspective, especially for nuclear power reactors, has been developed. That has been the basis for the evaluation process of the safety levels in the candidate countries.

10. In addition, the general international obligations assumed, for example, under the I.A.E.A. Nuclear Safety Convention, the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management played an important role.

11. Other I.A.E.A. documents have also been used in, and contributed to, the process. The evaluation has now been finalised. The European Council has established a report in which country specific recommendations are contained. On the basis of these recommendations, accession negotiations will be held with the candidate countries, while taking into account that safety improvement programmes, inter alia, under the PHARE programme are continuously implemented in the candidate states. In this process, it is important that close links have already been established with the regulators in these countries and that an intensive dialogue is already ongoing.

12. Over the past year, the Community, apart from its bilateral actions, continued its contribution to broader efforts made to improve the safety of nuclear installations and to strengthen their infrastructure in the New Independent States.

13. Over the period 1991-2000 the EU has committed €774 million under the Tacis programme to international efforts to improve nuclear safety levels in the NIS. A total of 650 projects have been financed, 450 projects are ongoing and another 200 are in the pipeline. Increasing nuclear safety levels in these countries is a long-term project, but already the following achievements can be indicated:

In this context, the close co-operation with the N.E.A. and, in particular the I.A.E.A., has been important and highly appreciated.

SAFEGUARDS

14. Safeguards on nuclear material in the European Union are applied by the IAEA in close co-operation with the Euratom Safeguards Office of the European Commission. This is done in a very satisfactory way through the New Partnership Approach developed in 1992. It has facilitated the implementation of safeguards in the European Union and allowed the IAEA to save resources.

15. The European Commission strongly supports the development of Integrated Safeguards. The integration of traditional nuclear material safeguards measures with the measures of the Additional Protocol should result in more effective safeguards within the present resource constraints. The European Commission is particularly interested in this development as, when properly implemented, it would permit the IAEA to move away from a mechanically-driven safeguards system, based on prescriptive criteria, to an information based system focussing on areas of real proliferation concern. In that light, the European Commission considers that the IAEA could further improve the effectiveness and efficiency of IAEA safeguards in the European Union by making enhanced use of the Euratom Regional Safeguards System. The Euratom Safeguards Office has recently made a proposal to that end to the IAEA, with the aim of optimising the resources of both organisations.

16. Finally, the ratification process of the three Additional Protocols to which Euratom is a Party continues in the European Union's Member States. At the same time, the Euratom Safeguards Office is actively preparing their implementation together with the IAEA and the Member States so that the Additional Protocols can become effective immediately after their entry into force.

RADIATION PROTECTION

17. Radiation protection is an essential component not only of nuclear safety, but also of the safety of the wide spectrum of beneficial uses of the radiation emitted by radioactive substances and by electrical apparatus. The efforts of the European Commission are presently concentrated on the full application of two directives issued in the mid-nineties i.e. the Basic Safety Standards Directive of 1996 and the Medical Directive of 1997.

18. After the adoption of the above-mentioned texts of general application, the specific issue of strengthening the management of sealed radioactive sources came to the foreground, as a consequence of several radiation accidents and other radiation events reported worldwide. The Commission is, therefore, pleased to co-operate with the IAEA in the implementation of the Action Plan for the Safety of Radiation Sources and the Security of Radioactive Materials.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

19. Research has always been, and still is, significant in the development and safe use of nuclear energy. The ongoing Euratom Framework programme on research and training for the period 1998-2002 covers nuclear fusion, nuclear fission and radiation protection. It has two components, direct research activities at the Joint Research Centre and support for co-operative research between the Member States (normally 50%). The Euratom budget for the four-year programme is: The programme is now fully operable. In the areas of nuclear fission and radiological sciences about 200 projects have been selected, representing a value of about 400 M Euros. They cover the areas of: 20. In March 2001 the Commission presented its proposal for the next research programme for 2002-2006. This is now being discussed with the Member States. The main priorities in the programme are nuclear fusion energy and waste treatment and disposal. Other activities include radiation protection, in particular effects of low doses, innovative systems and education and training. What is also important in this Research and Development field is the intensive co-operation between the Commission and the IAEA Safeguards Department in areas such as training, NDA, containment and surveillance, and chemical analysis.INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION

21. It is well known that the Community is also an active player on the international nuclear field. It has bilateral nuclear co-operation agreements with several of the States here present. These agreements are general in scope or cover very specific areas. Encouraging progress towards the conclusion of a wide-scope nuclear co-operation agreement between Euratom and Japan has been made. The agreement surely will be instrumental in the continuation of the already long-standing good relations between the European Union and Japan in the nuclear area.

22. First steps have also been made to develop a nuclear co-operation agreement with the People's Republic of China. With such an agreement, the Commission hopes to extend the scope of current co-operation to the field of peaceful uses of the atom and especially so in the science and technology field.

23. Nuclear trade agreements are envisaged with the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Proposals have been submitted to the authorities of these States and the Commission is ready to start the negotiations as soon as the States are ready to do so. Consultations on such an agreement are also ongoing with the Russian authorities. Nuclear fusion and nuclear safety agreements between Euratom and Russia may be signed very soon.

24. The Community already is, or is in the process of becoming, a party to several multilateral nuclear agreements. It has adhered recently to the I.A.E.A. Nuclear Safety Convention and is in the process of acceding to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management and the Safety of Spent Fuel Management. Accession to the Conventions on Early Notification and Assistance in case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency is also under preparation.

25. Euratom also actively contributes to the KEDO project. This project is instrumental not only to achieve peace, stability and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula, but also to achieve non-proliferation goals. Euratom is in the process of renewing its participation for another period of 5 years, up to 2005, under which its total financial contribution to the project might increase to 175 M Euros. For the project's success, it is important that the DPRK fulfills all its safeguards commitments to the I.A.E.A.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

26. Mr. President, to conclude, let me add that the Commission has always actively participated in, and supported, international co-operation in nuclear matters. Efficient and effective international regimes for nuclear safety, safeguards, physical protection, technical co-operation and non-proliferation are, and will remain, a permanent reality for the safe and peaceful use of nuclear energy. Therefore, the important role of the I.A.E.A. is beyond doubt. Thus, co-operation with the I.A.E.A. is important and I am sure will remain so. Indeed, the role nuclear energy may have to play to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, while maintaining stable energy prices could require a more active role of the I.A.E.A. in the future. This would also be so for the European Commission with the possible outcome of the broad energy debate in the European Union. The European Commission commends the Agency on the way it has acquitted its tasks and looks forward to continued fruitful co-operation in the future. The Director-General's forthcoming visit to the Commission in Brussels will surely help to further enhance the excellent relations that already exist between our two organizations.


  • Ref: PRES01-231EN
  • EU source: European Commission
  • UN forum: Other
  • Date: 21/9/2001


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European Union Member States