The European Union council of member state governments has set up a working party to look at nuclear safety and waste management in the EU with the aim of reporting its conclusions by the end of 2006. The European Commission has been negotiating with the council since 2002 to get two EU harmonised nuclear directives adopted under the Euratom treaty, one covering safety and the other waste management. However, after negotiations stalled, the council's working party on atomic questions (WPAQ) called upon its offshoot group, the working party on nuclear safety (WPNS), to produce reports on industry work to harmonise safety rules and on the availability of funds for decommissioning and waste management. The reports are expected to take account of reviews and studies by the IAEA and other nuclear industry bodies that are due to report over the coming year or so.
