Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (2001 - )

The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management was the first legal instrument to directly address these issues on a global scale. The Joint Convention applies to spent fuel and radioactive waste resulting from civilian nulear reactors and applications and to spent fuel and radioactive waste from military or defence programmes if and when such materials are transferred permanently to and amanged within exclusively civilian programmes, or when declared as spent fuel or radioactive waste for the purpose of the Convention by the Contracting Party.

Contracting Parties of the Joint Convention include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Events

1994	The IAEA General Conference asked the Board and the Director General to begin preparing an international convention on safe nuclear waste management
c. 25 April 1997	The appointed group of experts completes the preparation of the convention
28 April 1997	The Director General submitted a report to the Board which included the draft text of the convention. The Director General recommended that a diplomatic conference be convened on 1 September 1997 to adopt the convention.
29 September 1997	The Joint Convention was opened for signature on the first day of the 41st regular session of the IAEA's General Conference
20 March 2001	The twenty-fifth instrument of ratification was deposited with the IAEA. This was the trigger that enabled the Joint Convention to enter into force.
18 June 2001	The Joint Convention enters into force.
10 December 2001 - 14 December 2001	The Preparatory Meeting of the Contracting Parties, as required under Article 29 of the Convention, established dates for future meetings and adopted rules and guidelines.
7 April 2003 - 9 April 2003	The Organisational Meeting, pursuant to Rule 11 of the Rules of Pricedure and Financial Rules (INFCIRC/602) was held at the headquarters of the IAEA in Vienna.
5 May 2003	Deadline for National Reports
3 November 2003 - 14 November 2003	The Joint Convention First Review Meeting was held.

• International Atomic Energy Agency, 'Joint Convention: The Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management', in Worldatom; RASANET - Conventions, IAEA - RASANET, 20 June 2003, http://www-rasanet.iaea.org/conventions/waste-jointconvention.htm. Details