IAEA Calls on Countries to Join Nuclear Waste Treaty

The International Atomic Energy Agency has called on countries to join an international treaty on the safe and secure handling of nuclear waste, Reuters reported today (see GSN, April 4).

So far, 33 countries have ratified the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, which entered into force two years ago. Most of the ratifiers, however, are European countries that are not considered to be proliferation threats, according to Reuters.

“It is ... disappointing that more countries have not ratified the convention,” said Tomihiro Taniguchi, head of the IAEA nuclear safety and security department, during a conference on the convention this week (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters/Environmental News Network, Nov. 5).

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