Belarus presented report at 8th Review Meeting of Contracting Parties to Joint Convention at IAEA
On March 20th, Olga Lugovskaya, the Head of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor) presented the Eighth National Report of the Republic of Belarus on Implementing the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management for the period from 2021 to 2023 at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, sb.by reports citing the press service of Gosatomnadzor
The report notes that the spent nuclear fuel management policy being pursued is based on the provisions of national legislation and international treaties to which Belarus is a party.
“The state policy in the field of radioactive waste management is being implemented in accordance with the Radioactive Waste Management Strategy, which defines the main directions and approaches for making management decisions on the basis of safe, technically optimal and economically efficient radioactive waste management,” Ms. Lugovskaya noted.
Ms. Lugovskaya’s presentation outlined the developments that had taken place since the previous report. In particular, it was noted that in accordance with the decision of the referendum of February 27th, 2022, the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus for the first time enshrined a provision on the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes by Belarus. The Law on Regulation of Safety in the Use of Atomic Energy was adopted, legally establishing the status of Gosatomnadzor as the state regulatory body in the field of safety in the use of atomic energy. In addition, the Decree of the President of Belarus on Improving the System of Radioactive Waste Management defines the Emergencies Ministry as the state regulatory body in the field of radioactive waste management.
The report outlines practical issues of radioactive waste management in Belarus, as well as tasks for the near future in identifying acceptable technologies for radioactive waste management, site selection, design and construction of a radioactive waste disposal facility.
