On 3 December 2013, the IAEA Department of Nuclear Safety and Security and the IAEA Department of Nuclear Energy established a new international service for Member States that aimed to review and strengthen their national arrangements for radioactive waste and spent fuel management, decommissioning and remediation. It was called the IAEA Integrated Review Service for Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management, Decommissioning and Remediation, or ARTEMIS for short.
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<em>- CLAB, Central Interim Storage Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel in Oskarshamn, Sweden.</em>
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(Photo: D. Calma/IAEA )In total 33 ARTEMIS missions have been conducted in 19 countries in Europe, Asia and South America, resulting in 183 recommendations, 146 suggestions for improvement and 17 good practices identified.
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<em>- Storage casks for nuclear waste at the Interim Storage Facility in Gorleben, Germany.</em>
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(Photo: GNS/Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service mbH) The first ARTEMIS mission took place in Italy, in July 2017. Upon the request of the Italian government, experts reviewed the overall decommissioning plan of the nuclear sites managed by state owned company Sogin.
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The Italian government requested a second <a href="https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/iaea-mission-says-italy-making-progress-towards-safe-dismantling-of-nuclear-power-reactors">ARTEMIS mission</a> that took place in July 2018 to review progress since the first mission. The mission team found that Sogin has a sound foundation and capacities in place for dismantling operations of the Garigliano, Trino and Caorso nuclear power plants.
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(Photo: IAEA)In 2018, an ARTEMIS mission focused on a pre-disposal programme in Brazil. The team was requested to review the nuclear waste sampling and characterization methodology of waste generated at Angra nuclear power plant, Rio de Janeiro.
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The ARTEMIS report demonstrated Brazil's compliance with specific criteria for waste management stages, which allowed the country to continue progressing through the interdependent stages of radioactive waste management.
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<em>- Angra nuclear power plant, 2021.</em>
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(Photo: D. Calma/IAEA) ARTEMIS mission teams comprise international experts, who are nuclear professionals at national regulators, facility operators and other implementing organizations, who conduct interviews with counterparts and visit relevant sites to develop their reports.
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<em>- ARTEMIS mission team visiting the interim storage for conditioned radioactive waste at Nuclear Engineering Seibersdorf GmbH in Seibersdorf, Austria, November 2022. </em>
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(Photo: M. Prevost/IAEA) ARTEMIS can be requested at any stage and can cover any topic of a country’s radioactive waste and spent fuel management, decommissioning and remediation programme.
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Out of the 33 ARTEMIS missions carried out so far, 28 have reviewed Member States’ national policy and strategy for radioactive waste and spent fuel management.
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During this mission, the team highlighted the country’s progress in decommissioning the V1 Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant, scheduled for completion by 2027.
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<em>- ARTEMIS mission team visiting the information centre of Slovakian nuclear and decommissioning company JAVYS in 2023, responsible for the Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant complex in Jaslovské Bohunice.</em>
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(Photo: J. Brown/IAEA) July 2023: The first ever review mission focussing on disposal management took place, at the Ignalina nuclear power plant, Lithuania. Only a few IAEA Member States have reached this stage in disposal management so far.
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Find out more about ARTEMIS <a href="https://www.iaea.org/services/review-missions/integrated-review-service-for-radioactive-waste-and-spent-fuel-management-decommissioning-and-remediation-artemis">here</a>.
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<em>- The spent fuel pool at the Ignalina nuclear power plant, 2018. </em>
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(Photo: J. Donovan/IAEA)
