Title page 1

Contents 2

01. Main messages 4

Why this area is important 4

What we found and recommend 5

02. A closer look at our observations 10

International nuclear safety cooperation is relevant, but the Commission lacks a comprehensive and up-to-date strategic approach 10

International cooperation in nuclear safety is relevant given the transboundary nature of nuclear risks 10

The Commission lacks an up-to-date, comprehensive strategy guiding its intervention 11

Overall, selection of actions is based on well-defined nuclear safety needs, but lacks robust prioritisation 16

The Commission has established a well-grounded selection process based on specific nuclear safety needs 16

Selection of actions lacks scoring and ranking according to pre-defined criteria, reducing its transparency 18

From the outset, some actions were affected by maturity shortcomings or by insufficient demonstration of the need for EU funding 19

EU support contributed to the delivery of diverse and sometimes complex actions, but often faced delays, and, in some cases,... 21

The EU supported the delivery of a wide range of actions, including large and complex projects 21

Actions were often completed late and in some cases over budget 24

In some cases, long-term sustainability remains a significant challenge 29

The Commission's monitoring is in several aspects insufficient 31

The Commission relies on monitoring work done by third parties as regards the loan to Ukraine, without a clear framework of roles and responsibilities 32

In most cases, monitoring is focused on outputs, not actual improvements in nuclear safety 33

Annex I. About the audit 35

Annex II. List of contracts sampled 43

Abbreviations 44

Glossary 45

Replies of the Commission and the European External Action Service 47

Timeline 47

Audit team 48

Figures 17

Figure 1. Key steps in the adoption of annual action plan 17

Figure 2. Duration of actions funded by the INSC in the audited sample 25

Figure 3. Specific analysis of large-scale actions 26

Boxes 12

Box 1. Lack of a comprehensive and coherent approach in support to a nuclear power plant 12

Box 2. Large-scale actions funded by the INSC 22

Box 3. Persistent funding gap affecting ERA 27

Annex Figures 37

Figure 1. Number and age of reactors in operation worldwide 37

Figure 2. Evolution of EU grants for international nuclear safety cooperation under the TACIS and the INSC (in million euros) 38

Figure 3. 2014-2024 INSC contracted and paid amounts per location (in million euros) 40