| Author (Corporate) | European Commission |
|---|---|
| Series Title | COM |
| Series Details | (2015) 158 final (16.4.15) |
| Publication Date | 16/04/2015 |
| Content Type | Policy-making, Report |
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In the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA many national security organisations expressed concern that terrorist groups could use radioactive sources as a weapon to create fear and public disorder. Both the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Union took action to put in place international legal framework for ensuring safety and security of these sources, especially the ones with the highest activity. Directive 2003/122/Euratom ('HASS Directive') entered into force on 31 December 2003 and its legal enactment period ended two years later. The Directive puts in place a legal framework for ensuring control and security of high-activity sealed radioactive sources (HASS) in Europe and obliges the Member States to establish systems for detecting orphan radioactive sources and to recover radioactive sources left from past activities. Each EU Member State has designated a competent authority to carry out tasks in accordance with the Directive. Article 14 of the HASS Directive requires the Commission to report on the experience gained in the implementation of the Directive. An implementation review has been carried out in order to provide an overview of the situation in the EU on (1) the control of high activity sources in use, (2) the management of disused sources and (3) strategies for handling orphan sources. It is based on Member States' national HASS Directive implementation reports, questionnaires, interviews and fact-finding missions among the European stakeholders. The review results indicate variable practices in the practical implementation of the Directive requirements. Some States have very advanced HASS control arrangements and administration, whereas some States fulfil the EU requirements with quite modest administration. This is not surprising, since the number of high-activity sealed sources in the EU Member States range from only a few in some Member States to several thousands in others. Generally the HASS Directive has been well implemented in all Member States; the objectives of the Directive have been met and there is no reason to believe that the high-activity sealed sources would not be subject to sufficient control in any of the EU Member States. The area of most difficult implementation is the organisation of search campaigns for possible orphan sources left from past practices. In addition there are some inconsistencies in the implementation of HASS-definition, financial security of sources, training of potentially exposed personnel and source control practices. The HASS Directive has been repealed by Directive 2013/59/Euratom (the new Basic Safety Standards Directive, BSS), which incorporates the main provisions of the Directive and harmonises them with the IAEA guidance on radioactive sources. The EU Member States have until 6 February 2018 to transpose the new BSS Directive into their national legislation. During the transposition process the Commission will attract specific attention of the Member States to the areas where there has been implementation difficulties in order to better overcome them in the new transposing legislation. The new Basic Safety Standards Directive does not require reporting on implementation so there will not be a follow-up to this report. |
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| Source Link | http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2015:158:FIN |
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| Subject Categories | Security and Defence |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
