This project is part of the Commission's activities to support EU Member States, competent regulatory authorities, and licensees in the effective implementation of Articles 8a-8c of the Council Directive 2014/87/Euratom by facilitating the sharing of experience, and to promote more consistent and ambitious implementation of these provisions at the EU level. For this purpose, the Commission is already working with Member States and competent regulatory authorities (notably through Ensreg) to discuss national approaches and to identify further work to support more convergence in the implementation of the nuclear safety objective. This project is complementary to the activities with Ensreg and designed to inform and identify future areas of work and priorities of the European Commission in that context.

The project will assess in detail the technical and legal requirements addressed in the Article 8a–8c provisions and examine the relevant international and European guidance to determine if it adequately supports the needs of national authorities, competent regulatory authorities and licensees, and evaluate it for its usefulness in practical implementation of strategies and decision-making; based on a survey of national practices it will examine how the requirements under existing regulatory and licensing frameworks are being applied in practice at reactor installations and facilities in the EU. In the context of these provisions, the project will further examine the processes and criteria for deciding on the relevant safety upgrades, and provide an up to date status of implementation at existing nuclear reactors. It is intended to identify any gaps in current guidance and standards, and with a view to aiding future plans and strategies of Member States on the technical application of the provisions, recommendations shall be made for EU and international-level actions to achieve more consistent and practical implementation of the Directive's provisions to a high standard. To ensure the full participation of interested parties and transparency of the work, the results of the work are to be discussed with a wide range of stakeholders, and the findings and recommendations are to be published in a final report for general distribution.

The findings and recommendations of the project will be used to identify priority topics that should be examined in greater detail in the scope of transposition and implementation monitoring of the Directive by the European Commission, after its transposition, and to inform future Commission activities in this area, for example where further community research in nuclear safety topics would be appropriate.