International Obligations of the Republic of Belarus to Ensure Nuclear and Radiation Safety

Legal basis

The Republic of Belarus is a contracting party to a number of international treaties, conventions, agreements affecting the issues of ensuring nuclear and radiation safety. Among them are the following:

• Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiation Situation (ratified by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus No. 1216-XI of December 18, 1986);

• Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (ratified by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council No. 2381-ХП of June 14, 1993);

• Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (ratified by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus No. 2166-XI of February 4, 1993);

• Agreement between the Republic of Belarus and International Atomic Energy Agency on the application of safeguards in connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of August 31, 1995;

• Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (ratified by the Law of the Republic of Belarus No. 76-3 of November 11, 1997);

• Convention on Nuclear Safety (ratified by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 430 of September 2, 1998);

• Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention ratified by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 726 of December 14, 1999);

• Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (ratified by the Law of the Republic of Belarus No. 130 of July 17, 2002);

• Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention, ratified by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 487 of October 20, 2005).

•  International Convention on the Harmonization of Conditions for the Control of Goods at Borders (accession by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of November 30, 1992 No. 721).

• Protocol To Amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (ratified by the Law of the Republic of Belarus of April 30, 2003 No. 187-3).

• International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ratified by the Law of the Republic of Belarus of October 20, 2006 No. 171-3).

Implementation of obligations in practice

The Republic of Belarus fully meets the obligations arising from the abovementioned treaties, conventions and agreements.

In particular, within the          Agreement between the Republic of Belarus and International Atomic Energy Agency on the application of safeguards in connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Gosatomnadzor provides maintenance of monthly inspections of nuclear materials and facilities of the Republic of Belarus, which are conducted by authorized representatives of the IAEA, as well as regular reports to the Department of Safeguards of the IAEA on inventory changes of nuclear material, lists of actual material and material balance sheets.

The Department implements the procedures established for the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety and the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, including:

• provides, once in 3 years, the preparation of national reports of the Republic of Belarus on the implementation of the conventions;

• studies national reports of other countries and forms questions for them;

• ensures preparation of answers to questions submitted to the Belarusian national reports;

• participates in the Belarusian delegations in the review meetings of the contracting parties at the headquarters of the IAEA;

• organizes implementation of recommendations received at the review meetings of the contracting parties in the Republic of Belarus.

Bearing in mind openness and transparency, Gosatomnadzor makes publicly available documents on the fulfillment of international commitments of the Republic of Belarus in the field of nuclear and radiation safety, in particular - national reports on the implementation of country commitments in the section “System of Nuclear and Radiation Safety in Belarus / Reports ensuring nuclear and radiation safety in the Republic of Belarus” of the department’s website. Information on the implementation of international obligations of the Republic of Belarus in the field of nuclear and radiation safety is published in the annual reviews of the state of nuclear and radiation safety, which are also publicly available in the mentioned section of the Gosatomnadzor website.