EU Statement on Agenda item 2: Nuclear and Radiation Safety

Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Republic of Moldova, San Marino, and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.

The EU and its Member States attach utmost priority to nuclear safety. We therefore consider it essential that regulatory authorities remain independent, to ensure that safety is not compromised by other competing interests. We support the IAEA’s promotion of leadership and management for nuclear safety, including the importance of a strong safety culture in all relevant organisations. The EU and its Member States strive for the highest possible nuclear safety and radiation protection. We also remain a major actor for global nuclear safety assistance and technical cooperation. 

Chair,

The EU and its Member States remain deeply concerned over continued nuclear safety and security risks caused by Russia’s war of aggression, its illegal seizure of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), the intense military activities in the vicinity of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, and the military targeting of electrical sub-stations which are vital to the safe operation of these plants. We stress the importance of respecting the IAEA’s seven indispensable pillars for safety and security during armed conflict, as well as the five concrete principles aimed at ensuring safety and security at the ZNPP. 

We reiterate our demand for an unconditional, full and immediate ceasefire. We would like to express our gratitude to the IAEA and its Director-General for successfully achieving temporary and local ceasefires to restore power to the ZNPP and assure our continued support of the Agency’s monitoring missions in Ukraine. We call on the Secretariat to share the findings of these missions and update us on its work on reviewing challenges related to nuclear safety and security in armed conflicts. We welcome the reinforced cooperation between the Agency and Ukraine outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding, signed on the margins of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome. 

Chair,

We appreciate the Agency’s continued vigilance to ensure that safety standards remain fully applicable and up to date for all nuclear installations. The strategy that has been adopted for the long-term plan for the IAEA Safety Standards underlines the importance of maintaining a manageable and coherent set of standards, including strengthening of the safety–security interface. We look forward to its implementation. 

Euratom and its Member States remain fully committed to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS), including the Vienna Declaration, and to the Joint Convention. We encourage IAEA Member States to adhere to the safety conventions and to participate actively in review meetings, notably the upcoming CNS review meeting next month. We commend the Secretariat for its promotion activities and encourage further efforts in this respect, particularly regarding the Joint Convention, which is a major pillar of the worldwide safe management of radioactive waste. 

The IAEA peer review and advisory services are important tools to assess and improve nuclear safety. We welcome the efforts of the Agency to keep these services effective and efficient and look forward to being kept up to date on the progress with these initiatives. We agree with the Secretariat that the full-scope ARTEMIS review service, designed at the request of Euratom, can support all IAEA Member States in their implementation of national programs for radioactive waste management. We support the Secretariat’s promotion of such missions and their benefits. We encourage the Secretariat to continue to assess Member States’ needs in radioactive waste and spent fuel management and the possible need for associated refinements to this important service.

Furthermore, we encourage all Member States to express a political commitment to the Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources and its supplementary Guidance, and to actively share information on its implementation at the upcoming Open-ended meeting in 2026.

Further to the IAEA General Conference resolution GC(69)/RES/7, which requests the early development of concrete solutions to effectively address denial of shipment, we note with satisfaction the ongoing elaboration of a draft Joint Statement on the facilitation of the safe and secure transport of radioactive material and encourage all interested Member States to support this initiative.

We congratulate the IAEA Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) for its 20 years of operation in 2025 and underline its pivotal role for testing global readiness for response to evolving risks. We welcome the successful implementation of the ConvEx-3 (2025) exercise hosted by Romania, testing the effectiveness of emergency response systems involving 76 member states and 10 international organisations. We appreciate the integration within such exercises of new elements such as coordinated regional response, nuclear security components, as well as real-time public communication strategies to address misinformation. We also note the valuable results of the ConvEx-2 exercise hosted by Belgium that was dedicated to countering nuclear misinformation in case of a nuclear accident. 

Chair,

The EU remains committed to strive for the highest level of nuclear safety including for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), taking the entire fuel cycle into account. We note the increasing requests for support received by the Secretariat in areas like siting, design licensing and other safety related matters. Mindful of this, the EU initiated cooperation between nuclear regulators on the safety aspects of SMRs, amongst others in the European Nuclear Safety Regulators’ Group (ENSREG). We suggest that the IAEA’s work and Review in this area could usefully reflect on the achievements of such regional initiatives in advancing shared perspectives on safety considerations for SMRs. 

We note the increasing use of AI in nuclear applications, including medical uses of radiation, and support the Agency’s focus on balancing the risks and benefits of its introduction. We encourage timely development of relevant IAEA safety publications in this field, in particular the planned TECDOC on Safety and Security Implications of the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Nuclear Installations. 

We recall the strategic importance of building, maintaining and further developing human capacity in Member States. We look forward to the mid-term assessment of the Strategic Approach to Capacity Building in Nuclear Safety and Security foreseen for 2025-2026. 

Finally, Chair,

We appreciate the improvements in the structure of the document and its identification of priorities. Nevertheless, we consider that there remains scope for further development in the analysis of trends in nuclear safety, taking account all recent experiences worldwide. With these remarks, we take note of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Review in document GOV/2026/2. 

Thank you, Chair.