The legal mechanism for the management of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel in EU law

Introduction: Council Directive 2011/70/Euratom on spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, adopted in 2011, has become a legal mechanism for the management of RW and SNF in the EU. The provisions of the Directive have been fully implemented in the regulatory frameworks of the EU Member States, although the EU Member States are at different stages of implementing their RW and SNF management activities. The purpose of the research was the operation of the legal mechanism for the management of RW and SNF within the territory of the EU in the period from 2017 to 2019, as reflected in the Report of the European Commission in 2019. Methods: the methodological framework for the research is a set of methods of scientific knowledge based on dialectical and historical materialism, the methods of logical, system-structural, comparative-legal and information-entropy analysis. Results: the author’s position grounded in the work is based on EU law and the opinions of the competent scientific Russian and foreign community on the creation and operation of a new legal mechanism for the management of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. The 2019 Report of the European Commission reveals the dynamics of improving this legal mechanism and its interaction with the IAEA. Conclusion: as a result of the research, the important role of the legal mechanism and its uniqueness as a legal model for the management of RW and SNF in the EU territory is revealed, which allows adapting the actions of the EU member states on the issue of the management of RW and SNF, to monitor the process by Euratom and the European Commission, to cooperate fruitfully with the IAEA.