The Joint Convention

Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management

The Joint Convention is the first international instrument to focus on minimizing the effects of hazardous radiological materials and promoting an effective nuclear safety culture.

  • Ratified
  • Signed, not ratified

See Status

Ratified (85)

Signed, not ratified (2)

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Adopted

5 September 1997

Opened for Signature

29 September 1997

Entered into Force

18 June 2001

Additional Non-Country Members

EURATOM

Treaty Overview

The Joint Convention was adopted on 5 September 1997 at a Diplomatic Conference convened by the IAEA at its headquarters from 1-5 September 1997. It was opened for signature at the IAEA General Conference on 29 September 1997. Pursuant to Article 40, the Joint Convention entered into force 90 days after the date of deposit with the IAEA of the 25th instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval, including the instruments of 15 States possessing operational nuclear power plants.

Convention Provisions

The Joint Convention is the first international instrument that deals with the safety of management and storage of radioactive waste and spent fuel in countries with and without nuclear programs. It also considerably elaborates on and expands the existing IAEA nuclear safety regime and promotes international standards in this area. The Convention is aimed at achieving and maintaining a high level of safety in spent fuel and radioactive waste management, ensuring that there are effective defenses against potential hazards during all stages of management of such materials, and preventing accidents with radiological consequences.

The Convention covers the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management from civilian applications. It also applies to the management of military or defense-originated spent fuel and radioactive waste if and when such materials are transferred permanently to and managed within exclusively civilian programs.

The Convention calls on the contracting parties to review safety requirements and conduct environmental assessments both at existing and proposed spent fuel and radioactive waste management facilities. It provides for the establishment and maintenance of a legislative and regulatory framework to govern the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management.

The Convention establishes rules and conditions for the transboundary movement of spent fuel and radioactive waste that inter alia require a State of destination to have adequate administrative and technical capacity and regulatory structure to manage spent fuel or radioactive waste in a manner consistent with the Convention. It obligates a State of origin to take appropriate steps to permit re-entry into its territory of such material if a trans-boundary movement cannot be completed in conformity with the Convention.

Preparatory Meeting of Contracting Parties

Article 29 of the Convention requires that a Preparatory Meeting of contracting parties shall be held no later than six months after the date of entry into force of the Convention. The Preparatory Meeting was held from 10-14 December 2001. At the Preparatory Meeting, contracting parties fixed the date of the first Review Meeting (3-14 November 2003), the date of the associated Organizational Meeting (7-11 April 2003), and the deadline for submission of National Reports (5 May 2003). The meeting also adopted the Rules of Procedure and Financial Rules, and established guidelines on the form and structure of national reports, and on the process for reviewing the reports.

Verification and Compliance

Verification

The Convention provides for a binding reporting system that will address the measures taken to implement obligations under the Convention, including reporting on national inventories of radioactive waste and spent fuel. Each Contracting Party shall take, within the framework of its national law, the legislative, regulatory, and administrative measures and other steps necessary for implementing its obligations under this Convention. In the event of a disagreement between two or more Contracting Parties concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention, the Contracting Parties shall consult within the framework of a meeting of the Contracting Parties with the goal of resolving the disagreement.

Compliance

In the event that the consultations prove unproductive, recourse can be made to the mediation, conciliation, and arbitration mechanisms provided for in international law, including the rules and practices prevailing within the IAEA.

Reservations

Upon signature, Denmark stated that the Convention shall not apply to Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

China stated that the Joint Convention shall not apply to either the Macao or Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Point of Contact

International Atomic Energy Agency
P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Phone: (+431) 2600-0
Fax: (+431) 2600-7
Email: [email protected]
Website: www-ns.iaea.org


Developments

2019-2016

2019

On 16 and 18 September, Bolivia and Benin joined the treaty

2018

On 16 February, Mexico deposited its instrument of accession to the convention. The instrument entered into force on 17 May.

On 18 March, Serbia’s instrument of accession entered into force.

From 21 May to 1 June, the 6th Review Meeting of the Joint Convention was held in Vienna. Representatives from 69 of the 78 contracting parties were present, and, in a first for the Convention, Lebanon and the Philippines, which have signed but not ratified the Convention, and Iran, which is a non-contracting party, were invited to attend. The contracting parties discussed the implementation of national strategies for managing spent fuel and radioactive waste, remediating legacy sites, and strengthening the peer review process. The contracting parties agreed to hold an Extraordinary Meeting in 2020.

On 3 July, Thailand deposited its instrument of accession to the convention. The instrument entered into force on 1 October.

On 16 August, Paraguay deposited its instrument of accession to the convention. The instrument entered into force on 14 November.

2017

On 3 March, Madagascar deposited its instrument of accession to the convention. The instrument entered into force on 1 June.

On 2 July, Cuba deposited its instrument of accession to the convention. The instrument entered into force 1 October.

On 18 December, Serbia deposited its instrument of accession to the convention. The instrument will enter into force on 18 March 2018.

2016

On 8 February, Peru deposited its instrument of accession to the convention, and entered into force on 8 May.

On 15 April, Jordan deposited its instrument of accession to the convention, and will enter into force on 14 July.

On 15 September Lesotho deposited its instruments of accession to the convention. The instrument entered into force on 25 of December.

On 5 December, Niger deposited its instrument of accession to the convention. The instrument entered into force on 5 March, 2017.

2015-2011

2015

The 5th Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties was held at the IAEA’s headquarters in Vienna from 11-22 May. Sixty-one contracting parties participated in the Review Meeting, seven (Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Malta, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Viet Nam) for the first time, while eight (Gabon, Kyrgyzstan,

Mauritania, Mauritius, Senegal, Tajikistan, Uruguay and Uzbekistan) did not attend the meeting and four (Gabon, Kyrgyzstan, Senegal and Uzbekistan) did not submit national reports.

Since the fourth Review Meeting, many contracting parties developed national strategies for spent fuel management and improved bilateral and multilateral cooperation. Participating parties also reported on progress on safety taking into account lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi accident. In the final report, contracting parties noted the development in implementing their respective national programs as well as the effectiveness of international peer review missions in improving regulatory infrastructure and safety.

The contracting parties agreed that National Reports for the next Review Meeting should include:

  1. Staffing, staff development, reliability of funding, and other human resource areas;
  2. Maintaining or increasing public involvement and engagement on waste management, to provide public confidence and acceptance;
  3. Developing and implementing a holistic and sustainable management strategy for radioactive waste and spent fuel at an early stage; and
  4. Management of disused sealed sources.

The IAEA delivered a report on the Fukushima Daiichi accident during the meeting, presenting an assessment of the causes and consequences of the accident. IAEA Director General delivered a closing statement at the meeting, calling on IAEA members to ratify the convention.

On 14 August, Botswana deposited its instrument for accession to the convention. which will enter into force on 12 November.

2014

From 12-13 May 2014, the Second Extraordinary Meeting of the Joint Convention (JC) was held in Vienna, Austria. The meeting was held pursuant to Article 31 (ii) of the JC, with 45 out of 69 Contracting Parties expressing their support for the proposed meeting by the end of January 2014. The meeting discussed revisions of the Rules of Procedure and Financial Rules, the Guidelines Regarding the Review Process, and the Guidelines Regarding the Form and Structure of National Reports.

From 14-15 May, the Joint Convention held an Organizational Meeting in Vienna to allocate Contracting Parties to country groups and elect the Review Meeting President and Vice-Presidents.

Current topics of interest include stress test for spent fuel and radioactive waste management in Germany, implementation of the new safe confinement project at Chernobyl nuclear power plant, management of radioactive sources at the end of their lifecycles.

2013

On 28 January – 1 February, the International Experts’ Meeting on Decommissioning and Remediation after a Nuclear Accident convened in Vienna against the backdrop of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011. This meeting aimed to help member states prepare for and manage the consequences of a nuclear accident.

The meeting focused on the technical, societal, environmental, legal/regulatory, organizational, logistical, and economic issues to consider after a nuclear accident. It addressed frameworks for decommissioning and environmental remediation, lessons learned from dismantling facilities affected by past accidents, analysis of remediation challenges from major accidents which resulted in significant off-site contamination, management of materials and waste resulting from a nuclear accident, the status of the Fukushima Daiichi facility, and optimization of remediation, decommissioning, and cooperation post-accident.

The Conference adopted a Ministerial Declaration requesting the Director General prepare a draft Action Plan covering all the relevant aspects of nuclear safety, emergency preparedness and response, radiation protection of people and the environment, and the relevant international legal framework.

On 16 – 18 April, IAEA Secretariat hosted the First Inter-Sessional Meeting of Contracting Parties to the Joint Convention in Vienna. The meeting aimed to facilitate further consideration of proposals to improve the implementation of the Joint Convention, as proposed by the Open Ended Working Group at the Fourth Review Meeting. The meeting considered two proposals: proposal 3 (c), which proposed a process to further discussions and apply improvements before the 5th review meeting, and proposal 6, which intended to enhance ongoing dialogue between review meetings.

On 15 April, 22 May and 28 May, Mauritius, Armenia, and Oman acceded to the Joint Convention, respectively.

On 16 September, the Permanent Representative of Malta, Mr. Keith Azzopardi, deposited Malta’s accession to the Joint Convention on Safety of Spent Fuel Management and Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. Director General Amano expressed his appreciation and noted that the accession will strengthen the mandate of the Convention.

On 20 September, a Joint Convention General Committee Meeting was held. The meeting discussed the workings of the Group of Experienced Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS) and Joint Convention (JC) Officers, and the General Committee decided that the Working Group should cease operations until the Contracting Parties unequivocally agree to the continuation of said work.

On 9 October, Vietnam deposited its accession to the Joint Convention on Safety of Spent Fuel Management and Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. The Permanent Representative of Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Thiep, emphasized the strong collaboration between Vietnam and the IAEA in view of the scheduled commencement of construction for the country’s first nuclear power plant in 2014.

From 16-18 October, the Joint Convention held its first Topical Meeting on Approaches to the Back End of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna. Delegates from various States parties presented a broad spectrum of fuel cycle policies, ranging from open to closed fuel cycles, nationally limited to internationally commercialized fuel supply and reprocessing, and a wait-and-see disposal outlook versus a deliberate development of geological disposal facilities. Despite the wide range of policies presented, the States parties seemed to agree on the need for transparency and cooperation, building of public engagement, and development of disposal facilities for nuclear and radioactive waste (particularly to avoid building stocks of Pu).

From 5-8 November, the JC and the Asian Nuclear Safety Network-Radioactive Waste Management (ANSN-RWMTG) held a Regional Workshop in Gyeong-Ju, South Korea, to inform Asian IAEA Member States about the JC and the benefits of becoming a Contracting Party (CP) to the Convention. Through a series of sessions including a technical visit to a waste disposal site under construction, the prospective Member States were able to learn about the experiences and challenges of the current CPs.

2012

The fourth Review Meeting of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management was held in Vienna from 14-23 May. Fifty-four contracting parties participated in the Review Meeting, eight for the first time, while nine countries did not and six failed to submit a National Report. Many contracting parties focused their oral reports on lessons learned from the Fukushima accident, as requested by the President. In the final report they noted the effectiveness of international peer review missions in improving regulatory infrastructure and safety. Contracting parties demonstrated good practices in “public engagement, management of sealed sources and sharing of information with neighboring countries”. Remaining challenges included “ensuring the robustness of the review process, spent fuel capacity storage, and delivery of disposal options”. The Meeting noted that while many contracting parties had widespread experience with and significant numbers of near surface disposal facilities, geological depositories for spent fuel and high level waste were lacking.

The contracting parties agreed that National Reports for the next Review Meeting should include:

  1. Management of disused sealed sources
  2. Safety implications of very long storage periods and delayed disposal of spent fuel and radioactive waste
  3. International cooperation in finding solutions for the long term management and disposal of different types of radioactive waste and/or spent fuel
  4. Progress on lessons learned from the Fukushima accident, in particular strategies for spent fuel management

The Open Ended Working Group suggestions included establishing topical meetings to be held between Review Meetings and a meeting between the Joint Convention and the Convention on Nuclear Safety to improve coherence between the rules governing review processes.

In November, the Joint Convention released a newsletter outlining past events and meetings, upcoming events and meetings, regional topics of interest, and statistics regarding the new contracting parties.

2011

In March, the Joint Convention released a newsletter outlining the organization’s upcoming events, as well as several other issues, including Canada’s Ontario Power Generation’s proposal to create a Deep Geological Repository for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste.

An Organizational Meeting in preparation for the fourth Review Meeting of the Joint Convention was held in Vienna from 10-11 May. Following the meeting, Mr. Chang Sun Kang of Korea was elected President for the fourth Review Meeting, which will be held from 14 to 23 May 2012.

From 31 May to 4 June the IAEA held a conference on the management of spent fuel from nuclear reactors. The President noted that spent fuel seems to be generally managed safely but that standards must be continuously reviewed to reflect changes. He also stressed that public support for nuclear projects requires trust, which is achieved through transparency.

In September the Joint Convention released a newsletter detailing its agenda, organization, and goals for the upcoming fourth Review Meeting. Its goals included regulatory body independence, recruitment and education, increasing funding to projects and to develop geological repositories for high-level waste. The newsletter also detailed progress in waste management in the United States and United Kingdom.

2010-2003

2010

From 7-9 June in Paris, France, the Joint Convention held a Joint Technical Meeting on the Establishment of a Radioactive Waste Management Organization. 35 contracting parties and 15 non Contracting Parties were present for the meetings. Member States shared experiences with running or establishing radioactive waste management organizations. In particular, it focused on several factors for establishing a successful waste management program:

  • Reliable national legal and regulatory framework;
  • Consistent and clear definitions of roles and responsibilities for both the industry and Member States, and;
  • A proper link between national governments and the Joint Convention, as well as communicating with the public.

On 24 September, the Joint Convention held a General Committee Meeting in Vienna. The participants discussed ways to enhance communication and further interactions between Review Meetings.

From 27 September to 1 October, the Joint Convention held a workshop on a web-based data reporting system for assisting in compliance with the Joint Convention reporting provisions. 11 Asian countries and Australia participated in the demonstration of the Net-Enabled Waste Management Data Base (NEWMDB).

From 11-15 October in Lisbon, Portugal, the Joint Convention held a workshop on Sustainable Management of Disused Sealed Radioactive Sources.” The activity was held in conjunction with the Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources. Over 40 countries participated in the workshop and concluded safety, security, and technology were paramount to establishing effective regulatory control of radioactive sources.

2009

The third Review Meeting of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management was held in Vienna from 11-20 May. Forty-five contracting parties participated in the Review Meeting; three (Kyrgyzstan, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan) did not. In their final report, participants noted with approval the “moderate increase in number of Contracting Parties” and “suggested that efforts should be increased to accelerate this trend in the future.” In particular, with more countries “considering launching a national nuclear power programme,” the Meeting “strongly recommends that the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management be taken into account from the very beginning of such considerations.”

The parties also highlighted the following challenges towards which more work needed to be done to address them:

  1. The implementation of national policies for the long-term management of spent fuel, including disposal of high level waste and/or spent fuel;
  2. Siting, construction and operation of spent fuel and radioactive waste disposal facilities;
  3. Management of legacy wastes;
  4. Monitoring of disused sealed sources and recovery of orphan sources;
  5. Knowledge management and human resources; and
  6. Financial resources for liabilities.”

2006

The second Review Meeting of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management was held at IAEA headquarters in Vienna from 15-24 May. All 41 contracting parties and eight new contracting parties—Brazil, Estonia, Euratom, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Russian Federation, and Uruguay—participated in the review discussion. Parties agreed that progress had been made since the first Review Meeting, particularly in key areas including decommissioning, international cooperation, legislative and regulatory frameworks, and spent fuel and waste management. National reports demonstrated that those areas that had been identified in the previous meeting as requiring further work had been addressed satisfactorily.

Parties identified the need to further enhance policies and practices in the following areas:

  1. National strategies for spent fuel and radioactive waste management;
  2. Engagement with stakeholders and the public;
  3. Control of disused seal sources.

2003

The first Review Meeting of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management was held in Vienna from 3-14 November 2003. National reports, which had been submitted well in advance of the meeting, were presented orally and formed the basis of discussion between groups of States Parties.

At the meeting, it was noted that States Parties had made improvements to the management of spent fuel or radioactive waste in the period leading up to the meeting. States Parties acknowledged that the process of preparing national reports had been beneficial since it had identified needs and deficiencies in the national arrangements for radioactive waste management. Some delegations volunteered to report on progress in their implementation at the next review meeting.

Some areas in which progress was still required were identified:

  1. All countries needed to have in place a long term strategy for managing spent fuel and radioactive waste, since only a few possessed firm plans for the final disposition of spent fuel and high level waste.
  2. Regional solutions for the management of radioactive waste needed to be explored.
  3. Plans for integrated decommissioning and waste management, containing schemes for managing all of the various different types of waste resulting from the decommissioning process needed to be put in place by countries.

The emphasis in national reports and in the discussions at the Review Meeting was on spent fuel and radioactive waste from the nuclear fuel cycle. In this regard, the increasing role that public consultation is played in relation to long term radioactive waste management was noteworthy. In several countries, the public was involved through consultation processes in decision making with regard to repository siting decisions, options for decommissioning and policies for effluent discharge.

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