Browse by: "2016"

Brazil
Law No. 13,260 of 16 March 2016

India
The Atomic Energy (Amendment) Act, 2015
Department of Atomic Energy Notification

Japan
Act on Subsidisation, etc. for Nuclear Damage Compensation Funds following the implementation of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage

Canada
Decision of the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal dismissing an appeal related to an environmental assessment of a project to refurbish and extend the life of an Ontario nuclear power plant

Poland
Decision of the Masovian Voivod of 28 December 2015 concerning the legality of the resolution on holding a local referendum in the Commune of Rózan regarding a new radioactive waste repository (2015)

United States
Commission authorises issuance of construction permit for the SHINE Medical Isotope Facility in Janesville, Wisconsin
Commission authorises issuance of combined licences for the South Texas Project site in Matagorda County, Texas

European Atomic Energy Community
Adopted legally binding instruments
Non-legally binding instruments
International relations

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS)
Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (Joint Convention)
Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (Early Notification and Assistance Conventions)
Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources (Code of Conduct)
Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (ACPPNM)
Workshop on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage
International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (INLEX)
Legislative Assistance Activities

OECD Nuclear Energy Agency
Five Years after the Fukushima Daiichi Accident
Regulatory and Institutional Framework for Nuclear Activities
5th session of the International Nuclear Law Essentials (INLE)
Nuclear Law Committee meeting
NEA publications of interest
New NEA Deputy Director-General and Chief Nuclear Officer
New NEA offices
 

Les individus très instruits et très compétents sont plus susceptibles de s’estimer en meilleure santé que leurs pairs moins instruits et moins compétents, même lorsque la comparaison porte sur des individus présentant des caractéristiques contextuelles similaires. C’est aux États-Unis et en Norvège que la différence d’état de santé perçu associée au nombre d’années de scolarisation est la plus marquée, et en France, en Italie et en Suède qu’elle est la plus ténue. L’association la plus forte entre l‘état de santé perçu et le niveau de compétences en littératie s’observe quant à elle en Autriche et aux États-Unis. Les différences observées entre les pays concernant la relation entre l’état de santé perçu et le nombre d’années de scolarisation, d’une part, et le niveau de compétences en littératie, d’autre part, semblent indiquer que les systèmes de soins de santé et de protection sociale jouent un rôle important dans les modalités d’association entre nombre d’années de scolarisation, compétences en littératie et santé.

Highly-educated and highly-skilled individuals are more likely to report better health than the less-educated and less-skilled, even when comparing individuals with similar background characteristics. The difference in self-reported health that is associated with schooling is largest in Norway and the United States and smallest in France, Italy and Sweden. The association between self-reported health and literacy is highest in Austria and the United States. Cross-country differences in the association between schooling and self-reported health and between literacy proficiency and self-reported health suggest that healthcare and social welfare systems play an important role in shaping the association between schooling, literacy and health.

In tandem with the diffusion of computer technologies, labour markets across the OECD have undergone rapid structural transformation. In this paper, we examine i) the impact of technological change on labour market outcomes since the computer revolution of the 1980s, and ii) recent developments in digital technology – including machine learning and robotics – and their potential impacts on the future of work. While it is evident that the composition of the workforce has shifted dramatically over recent decades, in part as a result of technological change, the impacts of digitalisation on the future of jobs are far from certain. On the one hand, accumulating anecdotal evidence shows that the potential scope of automation has expanded beyond routine work, making technological change potentially increasingly labour-saving: according to recent estimates 47 percent of US jobs are susceptible to automation over the forthcoming decades. On the other hand, there is evidence suggesting that digital technologies have not created many new jobs to replace old ones: an upper bound estimate is that around 0.5 percent of the US workforce is employed in digital industries that emerged throughout the 2000s. Nevertheless, at first approximation, there is no evidence to suggest that the computer revolution so far has reduced overall demand for jobs as technologically stagnant sectors of the economy – including health care, government and personal services – continue to create vast employment opportunities. Looking forward, however, we argue that as the potential scope of automation is expanding, many sectors that have been technologically stagnant in the past are likely to become technologically progressive in the future. While we should expect a future surge in productivity as a result, the question of whether gains from increases in productivity will be widely shared depends on policy responses.

This paper is a first attempt at calculating the cost of air pollution in Africa. More precisely, it is a calculation of the major part of this cost: namely, the cost of premature deaths attributable to air pollution. It draws on the epidemiological evidence base assembled in the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013, in order to detail results for the health impacts of air pollution – in absolute terms and relative to selected other major risk factors, per country and for Africa as a whole. And it draws on the economic analyses developed by the present author, among others, in recent OECD work on the value of statistical life, in order to establish results for the economic cost of the health impacts of air pollution. In the period from 1990 to the present, and at each succeeding five-year interval in between, the death toll from air pollution in Africa has risen in tandem with the uninterrupted growth in the size of the urban population of Africa over this period. The total of annual deaths from ambient particulate matter pollution across the African continent increased by 36% from 1990 to 2013, from a then relatively low base of ≈ 180 000 in 1990 to ≈ 250 000 in 2013. Over this period, deaths from household air pollution also continued to increase, by 18%, from an already high base of ≈ 400 000 in 1990 to well over 450 000 in 2013. For Africa as a whole, as at 2013, the estimated economic cost of premature deaths from ambient particulate matter pollution was ≈ USD 215 billion. The estimated economic cost of premature deaths from household air pollution was ≈ USD 232 billion.

World trade growth was rapid in the two decades prior to the global financial crisis but has halved subsequently. There are both structural and cyclical reasons for the slowdown. A deceleration in the rate of trade liberalisation post 2000 was initially obscured by the ongoing expansion of global value chains and associated rapid emergence of China in the world economy. Post the financial crisis global value chains started to unwind and, possibly associated with this, Chinese and Asian trade weakened markedly. These structural changes were compounded by insipid demand due to anaemic growth of global investment, as well as intra-euro area trade, both of which are trade intensive. The slowdown in world trade growth post crisis, if sustained, will have serious consequences for the medium-term growth of productivity and living standards. Trade policy has significant potential to reinvigorate trade growth but the political environment for reforms is difficult, with a growing polarisation of OECD electorates into pro- and anti- globalisation supporters. Further trade and investment policy liberalisation should be introduced as part of a wider package of structural reforms to spread the benefits of freer trade and investment more widely.

Ce rapport analyse des projections de l’agriculture dans le Sud-Ouest des États-Unis, l’une des zones agricoles les plus arides et productives au monde, sujette à une aggravation future des risques liés à l’eau, due aux changements climatiques et une croissance économique et démographique continue. Il étudie les projections des risques liés à l’eau d’ici le milieu du siècle en l’absence de nouvelles politiques publiques et examine les conséquences attendues pour le secteur agricole, à partir des données existantes et des publications disponibles. Il est probable que la région reste une grande zone de production agricole d’ici à la moitié du siècle, mais elle ressentira les effets de disponibilités d’eau plus variables et incertaines et d’une demande en augmentation. La superficie totale irriguée devrait diminuer, au détriment principalement des cultures fourragères et de plein champ de plus faible valeur et plus gourmandes en eau. L’élevage et la production laitière sont aussi particulièrement vulnérables au manque d’eau et au changement climatique. Des conséquences sont aussi à attendre pour les échanges et l’emploi, même si les projections à ce sujet demeurent incertaines. Plusieurs démarches peuvent contribuer à réduire les risques de pénurie d’eau, dont l’utilisation plus efficiente de l’eau en agriculture et dans les villes, une meilleure gestion des ressources en eau souterraines, l’investissement dans les banques d’eau et dans le recyclage des eaux usées, ainsi que les transferts d’eau bien définis.

This paper presents the results of a new and experimental study on the research and publishing activities of scientific authors. It also aimed to test the feasibility of an OECD global survey on science with a focus on major emerging policy issues. This online, email-based pilot survey was based on a stratified random sample of corresponding authors of publications listed in a major global scientific publication index across seven diverse, hand-picked science domains. The results provide evidence of the extent of journal and repository-based open access, data sharing practices, the link between different forms of open access to research and research impact, and the decoupling of quality assurance and access roles played by journals. The results point to the importance of considering economic incentives and social norms in developing policy options for open access. The findings also provide new insights on scientist careers, mobility and gender pay bias.

This paper identifies opportunities to refine OECD’s indicators of land cover and land use and their regular production for all OECD and G20 countries. A comprehensive review is conducted of the available datasets at the global, regional and national levels, including data derived from remote sensing as well as those complemented with administrative and survey data. The datasets are assessed in terms of their geographic coverage, periodicity, spatial resolution, data reliability and comparability. The paper discusses the potential use of such datasets for the production of indicators that are harmonised across countries and over time. It is found that data on land cover are widely available and that many OECD countries have good-quality national land cover datasets, in some cases consistently over time. However, considerable differences have been found among the land cover products reviewed in terms of their geographic coverage, spatial, temporal and thematic resolution. For eight countries, no country- or region-specific data could be found (including Israel, Korea, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia). On the other hand, data on land use seem to be much scarcer, available only for Australia, European countries, Japan and the United States. The paper concludes with a discussion of selection guidelines for, and examples of, potentially suitable datasets in terms of their geographic coverage and the temporal, spatial and thematic resolution.

This report analyses trends in agriculture for the US Southwest region, one of the most water stressed and productive agricultural regions in the world expected to face further water shortages in the future due to climate change and continued growth. It examines projected water risks by mid-century without additional policy action, and discusses the expected implications for the agriculture sector, based on a review of existing data and available publications. The region will likely continue to be a major agricultural producer by mid-century but will be affected by more variable and uncertain water supplies and increased water demand. Irrigated area is likely to decline, with lower value, water-intensive field and forage crops experiencing the greatest losses. Livestock and dairy are also especially vulnerable to water shortages and climate change. Trade and employment may be affected, although projections remain uncertain. Policy options can help mitigate these projected water risks, such as agricultural and urban water efficiency improvements, refined groundwater management, investment in water banks and recycled wastewater systems, and well-defined water transfers.

Across the OECD, GDP per capita is converging. In contrast, regional disparities – or differences in GDP per capita across jurisdictions – are rising, mainly as a result of widening productivity differences. Fiscal decentralisation could help reduce them again. According to new OECD research, assigning more ownsource revenue to sub-national governments dampens regional GDP disparities and underpins regional convergence. In more decentralised settings, catching-up regions appear to adopt policy innovations more rapidly and their policy innovations have a stronger impact. Conversely, intergovernmental grants tend to fuel disparities, probably because they discourage lagging regions to develop their economic and fiscal base. However, when replacing intergovernmental transfers by own-source revenue, lower disparities in regional output may come at the cost of larger disparities in regional income and more unequal public service standards. Reforms to intergovernmental fiscal frameworks should therefore be two-pronged: a rise in sub-national own-source revenue should be paired with a re-design of intergovernmental transfers and fiscal equalisation, in order to make all jurisdictions enjoy the benefits of more sub-central fiscal power.

This paper further refines the OECD framework for measuring the environmentally adjusted multifactor productivity growth that seeks to incorporate environmental services in productivity analysis. Compared to standard productivity measurement, this framework allows accounting also for the use of natural capital (currently including 14 types of fossil fuels and minerals) and the emission of pollutants as negative by-products (currently including 8 types of greenhouse gases and air pollutants). An updated series of the indicator is presented, with a geographic coverage extended to all OECD and G20 countries for the 1990-2013 time period. The indicators presented here allow the sources of economic growth to be better identified, and growth prospects in the long run to be better assessed.

Out-of-hours (OOH) services provide urgent primary care when primary care physician (PCP) offices are closed, most often from 5pm on weekdays and all day on weekends and holidays. Based on a policy survey (covering 27 OECD countries) and the existing literature, the working paper describes the current challenges associated with the organisation of OOH primary care and reviews the existing models of delivering OOH primary care. The paper pays particular attention to policies which have been pursued to improve access and quality of OOH primary care. Findings of the paper show that most OECD health systems report key challenges to provide OOH primary care in an accessible and safe way. These challenges relate to (i) PCPs’ reluctance to practise due to high workload and insufficient remuneration; and (ii) geographical variations in access to OOH primary care within each health system. Together these challenges are leading sources of inappropriate hospital emergency department (ED) visits. Results also indicate that several models of OOH primary care exist alongside each other in the 27 OECD countries participating in the policy survey. Hospital EDs, rota groups and practice-based services remain the most common OOH arrangements, but there is a tendency to shift OOH primary care towards primary care centres and large-scale organisations known as general practice cooperatives (GPCs). A range of solutions have been implemented to improve access and quality of OOH primary care across OECD countries. These include providing organisational and financial support to PCPs; using other health care professionals (such as nurse practitioners), making OOH care participation compulsory, setting up a telephone triage system, using new technologies, and developing rich information systems.

Raising productivity requires addressing a wide range of policies that affect resource allocation, the creation and diffusion of technology, human capital and the creation and financing of start-ups. The greatest gains can be achieved in the service sector and in SMEs, where productivity has fallen to less than a third of large firms. Regulatory reform, increased international openness and labour flexibility would support such reallocation and technology diffusion. Korea’s large investment in R&D and education should be leveraged to raise productivity by enhancing university and public research and strengthening its links with the business sector and global innovation networks. To take advantage of innovation, the relatively low skill levels of workers above age 35 calls for increased lifelong learning. Perhaps most important, it is essential to shift SME policies away from promoting the survival of firms and towards productivity gains. Given market failures in indirect financing, developing capital markets, including venture capital investment, is a priority to boost firm creation. This Working Paper relates to the 2016 OECD Economic Survey of Korea (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/economic-survey-korea.htm)

Non-residential investment has fallen over the past 20 years as a share of GDP and is now lower than in several other high-income OECD countries. Business investment growth has been weak since the outbreak of the global financial and economic crisis. Government investment has been low, especially at municipal level. Investment in knowledge-based capital (KBC), which is closely related to long-term productivity performance, has been subdued. Weak growth prospects in the Euro Area have weighed on business investment and an increasing share of firms invests in distant, more dynamic markets. Policies that strengthen stability and growth prospects in the Euro Area would raise the attractiveness of Germany as a location to invest, notably steps to strengthen the single market and cross-border infrastructure, and complete the banking union. Steps to liberalise regulation of services, in particular knowledge-intensive professional services, would raise investment and productivity. Policies that encourage the reallocation of resources would also increase investment in KBC. Poor municipalities invest relatively little and there is scope to lower the cost of public investment projects. Better use of e-governance and more performance-oriented budgeting could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public investment.

Labour market reforms are essential to promote social cohesion by removing obstacles to employment, particularly for women, youth and older persons. In addition to reducing income inequality and poverty, such reforms would also sustain economic growth as Korea’s working-age population begins to decline in 2017. Breaking down labour market duality is crucial to reduce the wide wage disparity. Better conditions for non-regular workers would in turn promote greater labour participation. Increasing the take-up of maternity and parental leave, expanding the availability of high-quality childcare, reducing working time, narrowing the large gender wage gap and eliminating discrimination would also increase opportunities for women. Boosting youth employment from its current low level requires addressing labour market mismatch by better aligning the skills learned in school with those demanded by employers. Reducing the emphasis on seniority in setting wages by moving to more flexible systems and expanding training to improve the skills of older persons would allow them to extend their careers, thereby reducing old-age poverty.