CHAPTER 2

OBLIGATIONS

National framework
Article 5
1
Member States shall establish and maintain a national legislative, regulatory and organisational framework (‘national framework’) for spent fuel and radioactive waste management that allocates responsibility and provides for coordination between relevant competent bodies. The national framework shall provide for all of the following:
a
a national programme for the implementation of spent fuel and radioactive waste management policy;
b
national arrangements for the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management. The determination of how those arrangements are to be adopted and through which instrument they are to be applied rests within the competence of the Member States;
c
a system of licensing of spent fuel and radioactive waste management activities, facilities or both, including the prohibition of spent fuel or radioactive waste management activities, of the operation of a spent fuel or radioactive waste management facility without a licence or both and, if appropriate, prescribing conditions for further management of the activity, facility or both;
d
a system of appropriate control, a management system, regulatory inspections, documentation and reporting obligations for radioactive waste and spent fuel management activities, facilities or both, including appropriate measures for the post-closure periods of disposal facilities;
e
enforcement actions, including the suspension of activities and the modification, expiration or revocation of a licence together with requirements, if appropriate, for alternative solutions that lead to improved safety;
f
the allocation of responsibility to the bodies involved in the different steps of spent fuel and radioactive waste management; in particular, the national framework shall give primary responsibility for the spent fuel and radioactive waste to their generators or, under specific circumstances, to a licence holder to whom this responsibility has been entrusted by competent bodies;
g
national requirements for public information and participation;
h
the financing scheme(s) for spent fuel and radioactive waste management in accordance with Article 9.
2
Member States shall ensure that the national framework is improved where appropriate, taking into account operating experience, insights gained from the decision-making process referred to in Article 4(3)(f), and the development of relevant technology and research.