The directive should not create legal uncertainty over the return of ultimate waste after reprocessing of spent fuel to the country where the nuclear fuel was used and should be fully in accordance with the 2006/117/ Euratom Council Directive on the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel.

Radioactive waste arises mainly from activities of the nuclear fuel cycle, such as the operation of nuclear power plants and the reprocessing of spent fuel, but also from other activities, such as applications of radioactive isotopes in medicine, research and industry.

Each Member State should remain fully responsible for the choice of its own policy on the management of the nuclear waste and spent fuel within its jurisdiction, some choosing reprocessing of spent fuel, others aiming at final disposal of spent fuel with no other use foreseen.

Account has been taken of new considerations, such as, for example, the extended scope for spent fuel rods, disposal and reprocessing or the automatic consent process for the transport of material within the Community and out of it.

Has the Commission already made an assessment and if not, will it undertake an immediate comparative assessment of the details of radioactive effluents and emissions released respectively from the Sellafield nuclear waste and fuel processing plant, operated by BNFL in the UK, and the La Hague nuclear waste and fuel processing plant, operated by COGEMA in France, as published in the Commission Radiation Protection Report 127, Radioactive effluents from nuclear power stations and nuclear fuel reprocessing plants in the European Union, 1995-1999, and the report prepared for the European Parliament's Scientific and Technological Options Assessment Programme ( ...[+++]STOA) on 'Possible Toxic Effects from the Nuclear Reprocessing Plants at Sellafield (UK) and Cap de la Hague (France)', published in December 2001 and November 2001 respectively?

Has the Commission already made an assessment and if not, will it undertake an immediate comparative assessment of the details of radioactive effluents and emissions released respectively from the Sellafield nuclear waste and fuel processing plant, operated by BNFL in the UK, and the La Hague nuclear waste and fuel processing plant, operated by COGEMA in France, as published in the Commission Radiation Protection Report 127, Radioactive effluents from nuclear power stations and nuclear fuel reprocessing plants in the European Union, 1995-1999, and the report prepared for the European Parliament's Scientific and Technological Options Assessment Programme ( ...[+++]STOA) on 'Possible Toxic Effects from the Nuclear Reprocessing Plants at Sellafield (UK) and Cap de la Hague (France)', published in December 2001 and November 2001 respectively?