IAEA Director General Amano outlines safety measures to prevent nuclear accidents

[News_Editor]

IAEA Director General Amano outlines safety measures to prevent nuclear accidents

2011-06-21 05:13:42 GMT+7 (ICT)

VIENNA, AUSTRIA (BNO NEWS) -- Yukiya Amano, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Monday outlined safety measures to be implemented to prevent nuclear accidents.

Amano, who spoke on the sidelines of the Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety in Vienna, referred to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan three months ago following a devastating earthquake and a tsunami.

The IAEA head highlighted five concrete proposals that could contribute to establishing a realistic and enhanced post-Fukushima nuclear safety framework: strengthening IAEA standards, conduct safety reviews, nuclear regulators, global emergency preparedness, and receiving and transmitting information.

"We need to strengthen IAEA Safety Standards and to ensure that they are universally applied," said Director General Amano. "It is imperative that the most stringent safety measures are implemented everywhere."

Amano also asked the IAEA's Commission on Safety Standards to conduct a review of the relevant standards and submit a report within 12 months with recommendations for strengthening them.

In regards to the safety reviews, Amano called for them to be conducted systematically and regularly as well as for the total support from the countries with nuclear power. He stressed that the system should be based on random selection aimed at keeping the highest safety standards.

"Regulators must be genuinely independent, adequately funded, and staffed by well-trained personnel," said Amano. "In the case of Japan, I would like a new regulatory review mission to take place in 2012 as a follow-up to the 2007 mission."

Amano urged for enhanced mechanisms to respond and manage a nuclear accident at regional and international levels. Furthermore, the existing national accident response teams in some nations should be implemented in all states with nuclear programs.

"At present, our role in the case of an accident is largely limited to distributing information validated by the country concerned to all other Member States. I suggest that our information-sharing function should be expanded," he said.

The IAEA head called for including analysis and possible scenarios on how a crisis might develop and the associated radiological impact in the information shared on nuclear accidents with all countries.

"All these are practical measures which will not require lengthy negotiations or amendments to safety conventions," said Amano. "The coming months will be crucial for taking immediate remedial measures and to lay a solid ground for the future activities with the aim of strengthening nuclear safety."

On March 11, the natural disasters that struck Japan caused a nuclear accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The ongoing Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety was called to identify the lessons learned from the accident and to strengthen nuclear safety throughout the world.

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