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Chairman's Summing Up of the Ninth CEG Meeting's Major Decisions and Recommendations

(Berlin, Germany, 8 - 10 November 1999)

The 9^th CEG meeting, attended by 44 participants from 10 countries, 2 international organizations and the EC, took place in Berlin, Germany on 8-10 November 1999.

The meeting considered three major topical issues, namely:

Overall Strategy for Radwaste and Spent Fuel Management in the RF
- Report on the Russian strategy on the management of SNF and RAW from decommissioned nuclear submarines
- Report of the Strategy Working Group that included its analysis of additional RF Information on "Overall Strategy for Radwaste and Spent Fuel Management in the RF
Status of and Problems with Co-operation in the WM and SNF Management in the RF
- Implementation of the RF Waste Management Programme
- The CEG Highest Priority Tasks
CEG organizational and financial matters

Overall Strategy for Radwaste and Spent Fuel Management in the RF

Report on the Russian strategy on the management of SNF and RAW from decommissioned nuclear submarines
Report of the Strategy Working Group that included its analysis of additional RF Information on "Overall Strategy for Radwaste and Spent Fuel Management in the RF"

The CEG:

noted with appreciation the report "On Basic Aspects of the Russian Strategy for Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel Management with Respect to Ensuring the Effectiveness of International Assistance" presented to the CEG by the RF CEG member
noted also with appreciation the report presented by the Chairman of the "Strategy Working Group" (SWG) and experts involved on the outcome of the WG's second meeting that had taken place in Brussels on 26-27 October 1999. This covered management of SNF from nuclear submarines and nuclear plants.

Both documents have been intensively discussed and it was agreed that they made an important contribution to understanding the strategy for radioactive waste and spent fuel management in the RF.

The CEG:

repeated its previous conclusion that there is an enormous financial shortfall for the realization of the RF WM and SNF programmes, which is certainly not capable of being covered by the Russian government, if the budgets available to it remain as in recent years. To bridge the gap would require a significant expansion of the Western aid programme;
noted again that there was a very urgent need to make concrete progress in already started projects to assure donors of the feasibility of completing these as well as on the most important projects to be implemented under CEG High Priority Tasks;
urged an early conclusion of the MNEPR as this is essential for future co-operation in this area;

and, in parallel,

requested the SWG to provide the RF with the list of gaps to be considered and answered by MINATOM within two months;
requested the SWG to work with Russian experts to finalize the SWG's report and its shortened, comprehensive, conclusive version, which would reflect the strategic approach of the Russian Federation, into one, which had the explicit endorsement of the donors and the Russian authorities, and which contained sufficient technical and costing details (albeit estimate) to represent a realistic strategy on which co-ordinated international assistance can be based;
accepted with appreciation the Russian Federation suggestion to develop and present a Plan of Actions to realize the most important projects in the frame of the RF strategies and under the CEG High Priority Tasks to be circulated to the CEG members at least two months before the next CEG meeting;
requested that the final SWG's documents be circulated to the CEG members at least one month before the next CEG meeting and be presented to the next meeting's consideration.

Status of and Problems with Co-operation in the WM and SNF Management in the RF

The CEG reviewed the Summary information on the status of realization of the RF WM Programmes (presented by RF CEG member) and of major co-operation projects (presented by co-operating partners). There were many interesting presentations in particular those concerning siting of a possible radioactive waste repository in the North-West Russia and on the progress made on development of transport and storage casks for spent nuclear fuel.

The CEG Executive Secretary presented a summary information on the history, status of and problems with the "CEG Highest Priority Tasks".

The CEG:

requested its members to consider the presented information and possible CEG measures and not later than in three months to present theirs suggestions, comments, corrections to the CEG's Executive Secretary for further presentation at the next CEG meeting;
confirmed its decision to permanently keep in the Agenda of its meetings an item on reviewing and discussing the status of and problems with realization of (or negotiations on) all or some selected Highest Priority Projects;
appealed to both donors and the Russian side to efficiently remove all the remaining stumbling blocks preventing or delaying the realization in particular of the Highest Priority and other co-operation projects;

CEG's organizational and financial matters

The CEG:

paid tribute to the former CEG member from the RF, Deputy Minister Mr. Egorov, who passed away in October this year, for his great contribution to the creation of the CEG and its successful operation;
unanimously elected Mr. Newstead for one more year (up to the end of 2000) as the CEG Chairman;
acknowledged with appreciation the UK's and Germany's joining the group of CEG members financially contributing to the operation of the CEG Secretariat;
took note of the CEG Secretariat's preliminary Financial Report for 1999;
acknowledged with satisfaction the participation of the Netherlands' representative at the meeting and expressed its expectation of Netherlands' official joining the CEG from the next year;
noting the mutual importance of Japan's full partnership in the CEG activities, particularly due to Japan's involvement in solving SNF and RAW problems in the Far East of the RF, suggested to its members to continue their efforts through appropriate diplomatic channels to encourage Japan to actively participate in the CEG activities;
reiterated its suggestion to its members and the CEG Secretariat to take all possible steps towards attracting more potential donors to the CEG activities;
accepted with gratitude the invitations made by Finnish and French CEG members to host the 10^th and 11^th CEG meetings accordingly and agreed to hold the 10^th meeting on 23-25 May 2000 in Helsinki and the 11^th meeting in October-November 2000 in France. The proposals regarding exact time and place of this meeting will be presented to the next CEG meeting.