ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

The UN Joint Convention on The Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management was ratified by Australia in August 2003.

The Joint Convention applies to spent fuel and radioactive waste resulting from civilian nuclear reactors and applications. It also applies to spent fuel and radioactive waste from military or defence programmes if and when such materials are transferred permanently to and managed within exclusively civilian programmes, or when declared as spent fuel or radioactive waste for the purpose of the Convention by the Contracting Party. The Convention also applies to planned and controlled releases into the environment of liquid or gaseous radioactive materials from regulated nuclear facilities.

Wastes from the mining and milling of uranium ores are subject to the Joint Convention. However, the Convention does not apply to waste that contains only naturally-occurring radioactive materials and that does not originate from the nuclear fuel cycle, unless it is declared as radioactive waste for the purposes of the Convention by Australia as a Contracting Party. Wastes containing only naturally-occurring radioactive materials that do not originate from the nuclear fuel cycle have not been declared as radioactive waste by Australia for the purposes of the Convention.

The obligations of Australia, as a Contracting Party, with respect to the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management are based to a large extent on the principles contained in the IAEA Safety Fundamentals document "The Principles of Radioactive Waste Management", published in 1995. They include, in particular, the obligation to establish and maintain a legislative and regulatory framework to govern the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management and the obligation to ensure that individuals, society and the environment are adequately protected against radiological and other hazards, inter alia, by appropriate siting, design and construction of facilities and by making provisions for ensuring the safety of facilities both during their operation and after their closure. The Convention imposes obligations on Australia in relation to the transboundary movement of spent fuel and radioactive waste based on the concepts contained in the IAEA Code of Practice on the International Transboundary Movement of Radioactive Waste. Also, Australia has the obligation to take appropriate steps to ensure that disused sealed sources are managed safely.

Additional information on the Joint Convention on Radioactive Waste Safety is available from the International Atomic Energy Agency's website.

Since its ratification in August 2003, Australia has submitted two National Reports to the Joint Convention.

The Second Review Meeting of the Joint Convention was held in Vienna from 15 to 24 May 2006.

• Australian National Report to the Joint Convention Second Review Meeting - October 2005 (PDF 576kb)
• Questions and answers on the Australian National Report (PDF 210kb)
• Questions from Australia on other countries National Reports and answers to those questions (PDF 163kb)
• Summary Report on the Second Review Meeting of the Joint Convention (PDF 273kb)

The First Review Meeting of the Joint Convention was held in Vienna from 3 to 14 November 2003.

• Australian National Report to the Joint Convention First Review Meeting - July 2003 (PDF 391kb)

Questions and answers on the Australian National Report

Set 1 (PDF 45kb) - Set 2 (PDF 58kb) - Set 3 (PDF 97kb) - Set 4 (PDF 185kb) - Set 5 (PDF 30kb) -
Set 6 (PDF 39kb) - Set 7 (PDF 25kb) - Set 8 (PDF 43kb)

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