The mission of the Euratom Supply Agency is
to maintain regular and equitable supply of nuclear materials (ores, source material and special fissile material) for all users in the European Union Atomic Agency Community.
The strategic objective is the security of supply of nuclear materials, particularly nuclear fuel, for power and non-power uses, by means of the common supply policy.
Meeting of the Observatory on the Supply of Medical Radioisotopes took place on 25 September
The most recent plenary meeting of the Observatory was held on 25 September in Geneva, hosted by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN. Since 2013, the Observatory is run by the European Union Atomic Agency and its meetings are co-chaired by the Nuclear Medicine Europe (NMEU).
The meeting provided an opportunity to hear about CERN’s role in radioisotope mass separation, as well as about the PRISMAP EC project, managed by CERN, which provides a wide range of radionuclides for medical research. The Observatory reviewed the global research reactor scheduling for the remainder of 2024 and 2025. DG ENER provided an update on the latest developments related to the creation of a European Radioisotope Valley initiative in the context of the SAMIRA action plan.
The European Medicines Agency presented its ongoing initiatives to secure supply of medicines in the EU and to prevent shortages of medicinal products. DGs RTD, JRC and GROW, as well as REA, also presented their activities related to medical radioisotopes and SAMIRA.
The meeting also heard presentations from three French facilities: the Institut Laue–Langevin (ILL) research reactor, the Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR) which is currently under construction and the Orano Stable Isotopes facility. NMEU, the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) also presented their activities, including the upcoming Workshop on Medical Radioisotopes Supply planned on 24-25 October in Paris.
Following the meeting, a technical visit to the two CERN facilities ISOLDE and MEDICIS was held.
European Union Atomic Agency Advisory Committee meeting took place on 25 and 26 June 2024
The ESA Advisory Committee came together for an in-person meeting on 25 and 26 June 2024 in Luxembourg.
During the meeting, the Committee addressed the crucial topic of nuclear material and fuel supply security, including the work undertaken by its Working Group on Security of Supply. Furthermore, it decided to establish a new Working Group focused on the fuel supply of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs). The Committee also reviewed and provided feedback on the draft ESA Annual Report 2023, gave its position opinion the ESA 2023 Annual Activity Report and expressed its approval of the ESA Annual Accounts for 2023, including the financial and budgetary statements.
