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

The Joint Convention is an incentive convention that aims to, inter alia, achieve and a high level of safety worldwide in spent fuel and radioactive waste management, through the enhancement of national measures and international co-operation, including where appropriate, safety-related technical co-operation.

  • Adopted: 5 September 1997
  • Opened for signature: 29 September 1997
  • Entered into force: 18 June 2001
  • Parties: 90 parties (including EURATOM) (see table below)

More information on the Joint Convention, including the text and current status, is available here.

The following articles related to the Joint Convention were published in the Nuclear Law Bulletin and Principles and Practice of International Nuclear Law:

  • The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, by W. Tonhauser and O. Jankowitsch (NLB 60, p. 9).
  • The IAEA Nuclear Safety Conventions: An example of Successful "Treaty Management", by G. Handl (NLB 72, p. 7).
  • The Safety Regime Concerning Transboundary Movement of Radioactive Waste and its Compatibility with the Trade Regime of the WTO, by L. Strack (NLB 73, p. 25).
  • Observations on the first Review Meeting of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, by G. Linsley (NLB 74, p. 81). 
  • Inside nuclear baseball: Reflections on the development of the safety conventions, by C. Stoiber (NLB 100, p. 61).
  • The impact of the major nuclear power plant accidents on the international legal framework for nuclear power, by S.G. Burns (NLB 101, p. 7), updated in Principles and Practice of International Nuclear Law, p. 83.
  • International legal framework on nuclear safety: Developments, challenges and opportunities, by W. Tonhauser, A. Wetherall and L. Thiele (Principles and Practice of International Nuclear Law, p. 121).

 

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

Albania Estonia Madagascar Senegal
Argentina* Finland* Malawi Serbia
Armenia* France* Malta Slovak Republic*
Australia Gabon Mauritania Slovenia*
Austria Georgia Mauritius South Africa*
Belarus* Germany Mexico Spain*
Belgium* Ghana Moldova Sweden*
Benin Greece Montenegro Switzerland*
Bolivia Hungary* Morocco Syrian Arab Republic
Bosnia and Herzegovina Iceland Netherlands* Tajikistan
Botswana Indonesia Niger Thailand
Brazil* Iraq** Nigeria Türkiye
Bulgaria* Ireland North Macedonia Ukraine*
Canada* Italy Norway United Arab Emirates*
Chile Japan* Oman United Kingdom*
China* Jordan Paraguay United States*
Congo Kazakhstan Peru Uruguay
Croatia Korea* Poland Uzbekistan
Cuba Kyrgyzstan Portugal Viet Nam
Cyprus Latvia Romania* Zimbabwe
Czechia* Lesotho Russia* EURATOM
Denmark Lithuania Rwanda  
Eritrea Luxembourg Saudi Arabia  

* Country with at least one nuclear power plant in operation.

** Subject to an entry into force date of 19 February 2024.