The CELIAS/SEM photodiode spectrometer aboard SOHO continuously monitors the full-disk EUV solar irradiance in an 8-nm wavelength band centered at 30.4 nm (first order), and in a broad wavelength band between 0.1 and 77 nm (central order). We present the absolute solar EUV irradiances for the 1996 solar EUV minimum year at 1 AU. The uncertainty in absolute flux for each channel is approximately ¿14%. The accuracy and stability of the instrument make the data extremely useful in modeling the upper terrestrial atmosphere during this period of low solar activity. The data show evidence of persistent solar EUV/soft X ray active regions throughout this solar minimum period which give rise to both 27-day and short-term (minutes to hours) solar EUV irradiance variations. The lowest value of solar flux in the first order 30.4-nm band occurred on November 6, 1996, with a photon flux of 9.8¿109 cm-2 s-1. Using previously obtained solar spectra, we infer a photon flux of 4.7¿109 cm-2 s-1 within a 1-nm bandpass centered on the solar He II 30.4-nm emission line at this time. The irradiance variation of the first order channel was between +15% and -10% as measured from a smoothed quadratic least squares fit to the entire first-order channel database for 1996. The lowest central-order EUV photon flux occurred on the same day (November 6, 1996) with an absolute flux of 2.2¿1010 cm-2 s-1. When sharp increases of short-term flux variability are ignored, a variation between +45% and -30% from the smoothed least squares fit to the central-order database is obtained. The long-term solar cycle variation during the 12-month smoothed data in both channels indicates that the solar EUV minimum was reached during mid 1996. Large short-term sudden increases monitored by both channels correspond to solar flares observed from the ground and from the GOES satellites. New data for two isolated flares obtained from both CELIAS/SEM channels are also presented and compared with GOES 0.1 to 0.8-nm soft X ray data. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union