International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference (Unofficial electronic version)	GC(43)/INF/8 31 August 1999 GENERAL Distr. Original: ENGLISH
Forty-third regular session Item 13(a) of the provisional agenda (GC(43)/1)

1. This document, which may be regarded as a successor to document GC(42)/INF/5 (issued last August) and its predecessors, presents an overview of measures to strengthen international co-operation in nuclear, radiation and waste safety. It focuses on recent Agency activities concerned with such measures, but also touches on a number of important initiatives taken outside the Agency. Many of the activities during 1998 are discussed in other General Conference documents, notably the Agency's Annual Report (GC(43)/4) and the Nuclear Safety Review for the Year 1998 (GC(43)/INF/4). This document is therefore also intended to provide supplementary information, such as more detailed accounts of specific subjects and updates on activities in the first half of 1999.

2. The Attachment to this document on recent Agency activities follows a similar general pattern to that adopted in 1998, whereby activities were reported in three main areas:
   1. Legally binding international safety agreements such as various conventions which have been adopted or are still being developed;

   2. Non-binding international safety standards which have been developed mainly under the auspices of the Agency; and

   3. Provisions for the application of those standards.

3. Part A of the Attachment deals with:
   • the status of, and recent developments concerning, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency;

   • the status of the Convention on Nuclear Safety (more detailed information on the implementation of this Convention, as requested in Resolution GC(42)/RES/10, is given in a separate General Conference document, GC(43)/11, relating to item 13(d) of the Provisional Agenda); and

   • the activities following the adoption of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management to prepare for its entry into force (more detailed information is given in a separate General Conference document, GC(43)/INF/5).

4. Part B of the Attachment concerns the establishment of non-binding international safety standards by the Agency, often in collaboration with specialized agencies of the United Nations and with other international bodies, and describes the operation of the Secretariat's process for safety standards preparation and review.

5. Part C of the Attachment describes how the Agency has been providing for the application of safety standards through:
   • the provision of safety-related assistance under the Agency's technical co-operation (TC) programmes and by other means;

   • the fostering of safety-related information exchange;

   • the promotion of safety related education and training;

   • the co-ordination of safety related research and development; and

   • the rendering of safety-related services.

6. In Part C, Annex C-1 describes recent developments in the provision of safety related assistance through TC programmes and Annex C-2 deals with two particular areas of safety related assistance; the provision of assistance related to the safety of nuclear power plants in countries of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and in countries of south-east Asia, the Pacific and the far east. Annex C-3 describes recent activities to foster safety related information exchange and Annexes C-4 and C-5 address the promotion of education and training in nuclear, radiation and waste safety and the co-ordination of safety related research and development, respectively. Annex C-6 describes the status of a number of safety related services rendered by the Agency to Member States.

7. Separate General Conference documents provide more detailed information on a number of specific subjects related to the application of safety standards, namely:
   • the safety of transport of radioactive materials (GC(43)/9, relating to item 13(b) of the Provisional Agenda, in response to GC(42)/RES/13);

   • the safety of radiation sources and the security of radioactive materials (GC(43)/10, relating to item 13(c) of the Provisional Agenda, in response to GC(42)/RES/12);

   • measures to address safety aspects of the Y2K computer system problem (in GC(43)/7, relating to item 14 of the Provisional Agenda, in response to GC(42)/RES/11); and

   • a report on the International Conference on Strengthening Nuclear Safety in Eastern Europe held in June 1999 (GC(43)/INF/6).

8. A peer review of the Agency's safety programme was conducted in March 1999 by a group of experts designated by Member States. Part D of the Attachment provides a brief description of the main conclusions and recommendations of the peer review.

9. In the interests of reducing duplication in reporting, and in response to a proposal from the March 1999 session of the Board of Governors, a change is planned in the Secretariat's reporting on developments in nuclear, radiation and waste safety. The Nuclear Safety Review for the Year 1999 will, according to the practice adopted in previous years, be submitted in draft form to the March 2000 session of the Board of Governors. The final version, taking account of the Board's discussion, will be published as soon as possible thereafter. The text of the Nuclear Safety Review for the Year 1999 will also be incorporated into the Secretariat's report on Measures to Strengthen International Co-operation in Nuclear, Radiation and Waste Safety to the forty-fourth session of the General Conference, providing a comprehensive overview of nuclear, radiation and safety worldwide within a single report.

1. Four legally binding international safety agreements aimed at strengthening international co-operation in nuclear, radiation and waste safety have been developed and adopted by the international community and are now being implemented by the parties to them, with the support of the Agency^1/.
   • the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (which was opened for signature on 3 March 1980 and entered into force on 8 February 1987);

   • the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (which was opened for signature on 26 September 1986 and entered into force on 27 October 1986);

   • the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (which was opened for signature on 26 September 1986 and entered into force on 26 February 1987); and

   • the Convention on Nuclear Safety (which was opened for signature on 20 September 1994 and entered into force on 24 October 1996).

2. Another agreement — the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management — was opened for signature on 29 September 1997 and has not yet entered into force.

3. The IAEA's Director General is designated as depositary for each of these Conventions. In addition, the Conventions assign other tasks to the Agency's Secretariat; these include the collection and dissemination of information and the provision of assistance in the event of nuclear accidents or radiological emergencies.

4. Table A-1 shows a summary the status of each of the safety related conventions as of 30 June 1999, and relevant events since the last General Conference are described below. Up-to-date information on the status of the conventions is also available on WorldAtom, the Agency's site on the World Wide Web, at www.iaea.org/worldatom/glance/legal/.

   Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (INFCIRC/274/Rev. 1)

5. Since the last session of the General Conference, Cyprus has acceded to the Convention and Panama has ratified the Convention. As of 30 June 1999, there were 64 Contracting Parties to the Convention: 63 States and EURATOM.

6. A conference to review — and, if necessary, amend — the Convention is scheduled for 15–19 November 1999 in Vienna.

   Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (INFCIRC/335)

7. The Convention has not been formally invoked in the period since the last session of the General Conference.

8. Two States — Belgium and Panama — have ratified the Convention since the last session of the General Conference. As of 30 June 1999, there were 84 Contracting Parties to the Convention (81 States and 3 organizations).

   Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (INFCIRC/336)

9. Since the last session of the General Conference, the Agency has received requests for assistance under the terms of the Convention in relation to:
   1. treatment of a number of people in Istanbul, Turkey, overexposed to radiation from a cobalt-60 source which had been bought as scrap, and attempts to locate a similar source that was believed to be missing; and

   2. treatment of a person in Peru overexposed to radiation from an industrial iridium-192 source (the patient was eventually sent to France for treatment).

   Assistance to the Georgian authorities is continuing, in locating, retrieving and making safe lost or abandoned sources (see GC(42)/INF/5 and the Nuclear Safety Review for the Year 1998, GC(43)/INF/4).

10. As of 30 June 1999, there were 79 Contracting Parties to the Convention (76 States and 3 organizations), two States — Belgium and Panama — having ratified since the last session of the General Conference.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety (INFCIRC/449)

11. An Organizational Meeting was held in Vienna from 29 September to 2 October 1998 to prepare for the first Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention. The Organizational Meeting, inter alia, allocated Contracting Parties to Country Groups for the Review Meeting, using an agreed process, and selected Co-ordinators and Rapporteurs for each of these Country Groups. The guidelines regarding the review process, the guidelines regarding national reports, and the rules of procedure and financial rules were issued on 8 October 1998 as INFCIRC/571, INFCIRC/572 and INFCIRC/573 respectively.

12. The Review Meeting itself — to review the national reports by each of the Contracting Parties on the measures they have undertaken to implement their obligations under the Convention — was held in Vienna from 12 to 23 April 1999, and was chaired by Mr. Lars Högberg of Sweden. Each Country Group discussed in detail the national reports from the members of that Group (members of other Groups also had the opportunity to comment), and then reported findings to the plenary session. A summary report of the Review Meeting was adopted by consensus by the Contracting Parties. The summary report and a more detailed account of the Meeting are included in a separate document GC(43)/11.

13. Since the last session of the General Conference, four States — Belarus, Cyprus, Denmark and the United States of America — have adhered to the Convention. Armenia, which deposited its instrument of ratification during the last session of the General Conference has also duly become a Contracting Party. A total of 51 States (29 of which have at least one "nuclear installation", as defined in the Convention, that has achieved criticality in a reactor core) had deposited instruments of ratification, accession or acceptance by the end of June 1999. Of the 19 further States that have signed the Convention but are not Contracting Parties, two — India and Kazakhstan — have at least one nuclear installation that has achieved criticality in a reactor core.

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

14. The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management was adopted on 5 September 1997 and opened for signature on 29 September 1997. General Conference Resolution GC(41)/RES/11 appealed to all States to sign and subsequently ratify, accept or approve the Convention, so that it may enter into force as soon as possible.

15. As of 30 June 1999, 39 States had signed the Convention (24 of which have at least one operating nuclear power plant), and nine — Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain (of which all but Croatia and Norway have operational nuclear power plants) — had adhered to it. The Joint Convention will enter into force after 25 States, at least 15 of which have operational nuclear power plants, have deposited instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval.

16. An informal meeting of signatories and other interested States and organizations was held in Vienna, 16–19 November 1998. Under the chairmanship of Mr. George Jack of Canada, the meeting considered draft rules of procedure and guidelines for the reporting and review process to be adopted when the Joint Convention has entered into force. A further informal meeting to continue this preparatory work is scheduled for 18–22 October 1999, in Vienna. A more detailed account of the work to prepare for the Joint Convention's entry into force is given in GC(43)/INF/5.

In the Table below:

• A date without parentheses indicates, for a Contracting Party, the year of deposition of an expression of consent to be bound (i.e. an instrument of ratification, accession, acceptance, etc.) with the depositary;

• A date in parentheses indicates, for a Signatory which is not a Contracting Party, the year of signature; and

• (ocp) indicates, for a State or organization which is not a Signatory or a Contracting Party, that an official contact point for the purposes of the relevant convention has been made known to the IAEA. Unless otherwise indicated, Signatories and Contracting Parties to the Physical Protection, Early Notification and Assistance conventions have notified the Agency of an official contact point.

STATUS OF SAFETY RELATED CONVENTIONS, 30 JUNE 1999
	Physical Protection	Early Notification	Assistance	Nuclear Safety	Joint Convention
IAEA Member States
Afghanistan		(1986)a	(1986)a
Albania
Algeria		(1987)	(1987)	(1994)
Argentina	1989	1990	1990	1997	(1997)
Armenia	1993	1993	1993	1998
Australia	1987	1987	1987	1996	(1998)
Austria	1988	1988	1989	1997	(1998)
Bangladesh	(ocp)	1988	1988	1995
Belarus	1993	1987	1987	1998
Belgium	1991	1999	1999	1997	(1997)
Benin
Bolivia		(ocp)	(ocp)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1998a	1998	1998a
Brazil	1985	1990	1990	1997	(1997)
Bulgaria	1984	1988	1988	1995	(1998)
Burkina Faso
Cambodia
Cameroon		(1987)	(1987)a
Canada	1986	1990	(1986)	1995	1998
Chile	1994	(1986)	(1986)a	1996
China	1989	1987	1987	1996
Colombia	(ocp)
Costa Rica		1991	1991
Côte d'Ivoire		(1986)	(1986)a
Croatia	1992	1992	1992	1996	1999
Cuba	1997a	1991	1991	(1994)
Cyprus	1998a	1989	1989a	1999
Czech Republic	1993a	1993	1993	1995	1999
Democratic Republic of the Congo		(1986)	(1986)a
Denmark	1991	1986	(1986)	1998	(1998)
Dominican Republic	(1980)a
Ecuador	1996	(ocp)	(ocp)
Egypt		1988	1988	(1994)
El Salvador
Estonia	1994	1994	1994
Ethiopia		(ocp)
Finland	1989	1986	1990	1996	(1997)
France	1991	1989	1989	1995	(1997)
Gabon		(ocp)
Georgia
Germany	1991	1989	1989	1997	1998
Ghana		(ocp)	(ocp)	(1995)
Greece	1991	1991	1991	1997	(1998)
Guatemala	1985a	1988	1988a
Haiti	(1980)a
Holy See	(ocp)	(1986)	(1986)a
Hungary	1984	1987	1987	1996	1998
Iceland		1989	(1986)a	(1995)
India		1988	1988	(1994)
Indonesia	1986	1993	1993	(1994)	(1997)
Iran, Islamic Republic of	(ocp)	(1986)	(1986)
Iraq		1988	1988a
Ireland	1991	1991	1991	1996	(1997)
Israel	(1983)a	1989	1989	(1994)
Italy	1991	1990	1990	1998	(1998)
Jamaica
Japan	1988	1987	1987	1995
Jordan	(ocp)	1987	1987	(1994)
Kazakhstan	(ocp)	(ocp)	(ocp)	(1996)	(1997)
Kenya	(ocp)	(ocp)	(ocp)
Korea, Republic of	1982	1990	1990	1995	(1997)
Kuwait	(ocp)	(ocp)
Latvia		1992	1992	1996
Lebanon	1997a	1997	1997	1996	(1997)
Liberia
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya		(ocp)	1990a
Liechtenstein	1986	1994	1994a
Lithuania	1993	1994	(ocp)	1996	(1997)
Luxembourg	1991	(1986)	(ocp)	1997	(1997)
Madagascar		(ocp)
Malaysia		1987	1987
Mali		(1986)a	(1986)a	1996
Malta	(ocp)	(ocp)	(ocp)
Marshall Islands
Mauritius		1992	1992a
Mexico	1988	1988	1988	1996
Monaco	1996	1989	1989	(1996)
Mongolia	1986a	1987	1987a
Morocco	(1980)a	1993	1993	(1994)	(1997)
Myanmar		1997a
Namibia
Netherlands	1991	1991	1991	1996	(1999)
New Zealand		1987	1987
Nicaragua		1993	1993a	(1994)
Niger	(1985)	(1986)	(1986)
Nigeria		1990	1990a	(1994)
Norway	1985	1986	1986	1994	1998
Pakistan		1989	1989	1997
Panama	1999a	1999a	1999a
Paraguay	1985	(1986)	(1986)
Peru	1995	1995	1995	1997	(1998)
Philippines	1981	1997	1997	(1994)	(1998)
Poland	1983	1988	1988	1995	(1997)
Portugal	1991	1993	(1986)	1998
Qatar		(ocp)
Republic of Moldova	1998	1998	1998	1998
Romania	1993	1990	1990	1995	(1997)
Russian Federation	1983	1986	1986	1996	(1999)
Saudi Arabia		1989	1989
Senegal		(1987)	(1987)a
Sierra Leone		(1987)a	(1987)a
Singapore		1997	1997	1997
Slovakia	1993	1993	1993	1995	1998
Slovenia	1992	1992	1992	1996	1999
South Africa	(1981)a	1987	1987	1996
Spain	1991	1989	1989	1995	1999
Sri Lanka		1991a	1991a
Sudan		(1986)	(1986)	(1994)
Sweden	1980	1987	1992	1995	(1997)
Switzerland	1987	1988	1988	1996	(1997)
Syrian Arab Republic		(1987)	(1987)	(1994)
Thailand		1989	1989
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	1996a	1996	1996a
Tunisia	1993a	1989	1989a	(1994)
Turkey	1985	1991	1991	1991	1995
Uganda
Ukraine	1993	1987	1987	1998	(1997)
United Arab Emirates		1987	1987a
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	1991	1990	1990	1996	(1997)
United Republic of Tanzania		(ocp)	(ocp)
United States of America	1982	1988	1988	1999	(1997)
Uruguay	(ocp)	1989	1989	(1996)
Uzbekistan	1998a
Venezuela
Viet Nam		1987	1987
Yemen		(ocp)	(ocp)
Yugoslavia	1986	1989	1991a
Zambia		(ocp)
Zimbabwe		(1986)a	(1986)a
Non-Member Statesb
Antigua and Barbuda	1993a
Belize		(ocp)
Brunei Darussalam	(ocp)	(ocp)	(ocp)
Cape Verde	(ocp)	(ocp)
Chad		(ocp)
Democratic People's Republic of Korea		(1986)	(1986)
Dominica	(ocp)	(ocp)	(ocp)
Grenada		(ocp)
Guinea		(ocp)
Guinea-Bissau		(ocp)
Kiribati		(ocp)
Kyrgyzstan		(ocp)	(ocp)
Malawi		(ocp)	(ocp)
Maldives		(ocp)
Macronesia, Federated States of	(ocp)
Papua New Guinea	(ocp)	(ocp)
Saint Lucia		(ocp)	(ocp)
Samoa		(ocp)	(ocp)
Tajikistan	1996a
Tonga	(ocp)
Turkmenistan		(ocp)
International Organizationsb
Arab Atomic Energy Agency		(ocp)	(ocp)
Euratom	1991	(ocp)
Food and Agriculture Organization		1990	1990
International Labour Office		(ocp)	(ocp)
UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization		(ocp)	(ocp)
UN Environment Programme		(ocp)
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs		(ocp)
World Health Organization		1988	1988a
World Meteorological Organization		1990	1990a
a   Signatories and Contracting Parties which have not notified the Agency of an official contact point in relation to the relevant convention. b   Non-Member States and international organizations are listed only if they are Signatories or Contracting Parties to at least one convention or if they have notified the Agency of an official contact point in relation to at least one convention

Background
1. Under Article III.A.6 of its Statute, the Agency is authorized "To establish or adopt, in consultation and, where appropriate, in collaboration with the competent organs of the United Nations and with the specialized agencies concerned, standards of safety for protection of health and minimization of danger to life and property". Since soon after the Agency's inception the Secretariat has been involved in developing and establishing such standards.

2. In 1996, the Secretariat introduced a uniform preparation and review process for safety standards. To this end, it created a set of advisory bodies with harmonized terms of reference to assist it in preparing and reviewing all documents, namely the Advisory Commission for Safety Standards (ACSS), the Nuclear Safety Standards Advisory Committee (NUSSAC), the Radiation Safety Standards Advisory Committee (RASSAC), the Waste Safety Standards Advisory Committee (WASSAC) and the Transport Safety Standards Advisory Committee (TRANSSAC). It assigned to each of these bodies a Scientific Secretary, who co-ordinates the work of the body with the relevant Agency policies and programmes, and appoints a Technical Officer for the preparation of each document in accordance with recommendations made.

   International basis for the Agency's safety standards

3. The Agency establishes its safety standards on the basis of advice provided by its International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG), of studies by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and of recommendations made by a number of international bodies, principally the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP)^1/.

4. INSAG — an independent advisory group to the Director General of the IAEA — has four reports either recently published or close to publication. A new publication entitled "The Safe Management of Sources of Radiation: Principles and Strategies" (INSAG-11) addresses the fundamental objectives and principles of nuclear, radiation and waste safety. This publication will be used as one of the primary references for the revision of the IAEA's Safety Fundamentals, starting next year. An updated version of an earlier report on the basic safety principles for nuclear power plants (INSAG-3 Rev. 1) and new reports on the management of operational safety at nuclear power plants and on the safe management of the operating lifetimes of nuclear power plants have been approved and will be issued in the near future.

5. As reported in the Nuclear Safety Review for the Year 1998 (GC(43)/INF/4), the UN General Assembly adopted a Resolution A/RES/53/44 indicating that UNSCEAR's existing functions and role should continue. UNSCEAR's major areas of current interest include: estimating worldwide exposures from natural sources; global doses and trends in medical exposure; exposure of the local population from the Chernobyl accident; doses from natural sources in workplaces; the total doses received by people who are occupationally exposed; effects of radiation on children and on the developing brain in utero; mechanisms involved in oncogenesis and hereditary effects; dose and dose rate effects; the adaptive response; epidemiology; and interactions between the effects of radiation and other carcinogens. It is expected that, at its meeting in 2000, UNSCEAR will approve its latest report to the UN General Assembly on sources and effects of ionizing radiation.

6. The ICRP issued a report on genetic susceptibility to cancer (Publication 79) and a database of dose coefficients (on CD-ROM), and also published a special report summarizing the Commission's history, policy and procedures. At its October 1998 meeting, the Main Commission adopted a report on risk estimation for multifactorial disease, which will be ICRP Publication 80. At its April 1999 meeting, Committee 4 adopted a report on protection of the public in prolonged exposure situations, which has been forwarded to the Main Commission. Another Committee 4 Task Group, on the disposal of long-lived solid radioactive waste, is also close to completing its report. Looking to the future, the Commission has circulated a text, through the International Radiation Protection Association, requesting views on some suggestions for the evolution of ICRP recommendations towards a system based on the concept of 'controllable dose'.

   The hierarchy of Agency safety standards documents

7. In 1989, following a major expansion of the Agency's safety related activities, the Secretariat introduced a hierarchical structure for IAEA Safety Series publications, which were divided into Safety Fundamentals, Safety Standards, Safety Guides and Safety Practices. In order to clarify the status of the different documents, this structure was modified in 1996, the single Safety Series being replaced by:
   • the Safety Standards Series, comprising those safety standards issued by the Agency pursuant to Article III.A.6 of its Statute; and

   • the Safety Reports Series, to contain more descriptive documents of the type previously issued as Safety Practices, which are issued by the Agency for the purpose of safety related information exchange.

8. The Safety Standards Series documents fall into three categories:
   • Safety Fundamentals, which state the basic objectives, concepts and principles involved in ensuring protection and safety;

   • Safety Requirements, which specify requirements that must be satisfied in order to ensure safety for particular activities or application areas, these requirements being governed by the basic objectives, concepts and principles stated in Safety Fundamentals; and

   • Safety Guides, which supplement Safety Requirements by presenting recommendations, based on international experience, regarding measures to ensure the observance of safety requirements.

9. Safety Reports give examples and descriptions of methods which can be applied in implementing both Safety Requirements and Safety Guides. They are documents for fostering information exchange.

   Activities of the advisory bodies

10. A brief summary is given below of the main activities of the ACSS and the four Advisory Committees since the last session of the General Conference. A document outlining the current status of all of the Agency's safety standards is available from the Secretariat, and will soon be on the Agency's web site at www.iaea.org/ns/coordinet/.

11. Safety Requirements on near surface disposal of radioactive waste, which had previously been endorsed by ACSS, were approved for publication by the March 1999 session of the Board of Governors, and have now been published. Six Safety Guides — one on safety assessment for near surface disposal, three on occupational radiation protection and two on decommissioning — have been approved by the IAEA Publications Committee, and will be published shortly.

    Advisory Commission for Safety Standards (ACSS)

12. The Advisory Commission for Safety Standards (ACSS) is a standing body of senior government officials holding national responsibilities for establishing standards and other documents relevant to nuclear, radiation, waste and transport safety. The ACSS has a special overview role with regard to the Agency's safety standards and provides advice to the Director General on the overall safety-standards-related programme.

13. The members of the ACSS were appointed by the Director General for a four-year term, which runs until the end of 1999. The Agency is inviting Member States with major nuclear programmes to nominate senior experts to serve on the ACSS; on the basis of these nominations, the Director General will select members for the 2000–2003 term.

14. The ACSS, chaired by Dr. A. Bishop of the Atomic Energy Control Board, Canada, met in May–June 1999. The Commission endorsed the submission of three Safety Requirements to the Board of Governors for approval, on:
    • legal and governmental infrastructure for nuclear, radiation, radioactive waste and transport safety (a General Safety publication);

    • safety of nuclear power plants: operation; and

    • pre-disposal management of radioactive waste including decommissioning.

15. Four Safety Guides were also endorsed by the ACSS for publication, covering:
    • regulatory control of radioactive discharges to the environment;

    • preventing, detecting and responding to illicit trafficking in radioactive materials;

    • decommissioning of medical, industrial and research facilities; and

    • decommissioning of nuclear power plants and research reactors.

    Nuclear Safety Standards Advisory Committee (NUSSAC),
    Radiation Safety Standards Advisory Committee (RASSAC),
    Waste Safety Standards Advisory Committee (WASSAC) and
    Transport Safety Standards Advisory Committee (TRANSSAC)

16. Each of the four Advisory Committees is a standing body of senior regulatory officials with technical expertise in the relevant area of safety. They provide advice to the Secretariat on the overall safety programme in their respective areas of expertise, and have the primary role in the development and revision of the Agency's safety standards in that area.

17. The original members of the four Advisory Committees — NUSSAC, RASSAC, WASSAC and TRANSSAC — were appointed by the Director General for a three-year term from 1996 to the end of 1998. Since the last session of the General Conference, therefore, these committees have been reconstituted, taking account of nominations from Member States. Each of the Advisory Committees met for the first time with its new membership in the first half of 1999.

18. The Chairmen of NUSSAC (Mr. P. Govaerts of AIB-Vinçotte Nucléaire, Belgium) and WASSAC (Mr. P. Metcalf of the Council for Nuclear Safety, South Africa) were reappointed for the 1999–2001 term. Mr. G.C. Mason of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency was appointed as Chairman of RASSAC to succeed Mr. S.L. Creswell (Health and Safety Executive, United Kingdom), and Mr. C.N. Young of the United Kingdom Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions succeeded Mr. W. Collin (Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz, Germany) as Chairman of TRANSSAC.

19. Each of the outgoing Advisory Committees prepared reports summarizing the main achievements and issues of their three-year terms. These reports were of value both to the Secretariat in assessing the effectiveness of the new preparation and review process, and to the incoming Committees as a historical record. Notable themes in the reports from the different Committees included the need for coherence and consistency between safety standards on different topics (and hence for co-ordination between the advisory bodies), a wish for greater transparency in the process whereby the Secretariat takes account of Member States' comments on draft safety standards, and, ultimately, the importance of feedback from Member States on the value of the safety standards being produced.

20. All four of the Advisory Committees were involved in reviewing the draft Safety Requirements on legal and governmental infrastructure for nuclear, radiation, radioactive waste and transport safety, which were also endorsed by the ACSS for submission to the Board of Governors for approval (see above).

21. NUSSAC met twice during the past year, once with the original membership and once with the new, and has provided advice on the revision and updating of the existing NUSS documents in the areas of nuclear power plant operation, design and siting and on research reactors. In addition, as the nominated lead Committee for the legal and governmental infrastructure standards, NUSSAC considered drafts of the series of Safety Guides for nuclear facilities, covering organization of the regulatory body, review and assessment, inspection and enforcement, and documentation.

22. The aim is to have completed the redrafting of all priority documents by the end of the year 2000 and the programme is now at the stage where a large number of documents are under preparation and review at any time. A small number of documents are approaching the end of this process, most notably the three Safety Requirements documents on operation, design, and legal and governmental infrastructure. These Safety Requirements, which will replace the existing Codes, are important for identifying assistance needs and for updating the safety review services, such as OSART, IRRT and the Design Safety Review Service (see Annex C-6). The first of the nuclear Safety Requirements,