IAEA eyes random nuclear plant safety checks
Jun. 21, 2011
By Miya Tanaka and Kathrin Honauer
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano called Monday for random safety assessments of nuclear power plants by the U.N. body in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Japan, along with a pledge that the IAEA would play a leading role in enhancing nuclear safety around the world.
He made the remarks at the outset of a five-day IAEA ministerial meeting on nuclear safety in Vienna, where member countries agreed on the benefits of periodic ''high quality independent international safety expert assessments'' under the IAEA framework and recognized the importance of an international compensation framework for nuclear accidents.
Adopting a declaration later Monday, the countries also committed to strengthening the authority of national nuclear regulators and ensuring their effective independence, an area which Japan has taken a hard look at as one of the lessons learned from the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Speaking after IAEA Director General Amano, Japanese industry minister Banri Kaieda said that Japan has a responsibility to explain the ongoing crisis in northeastern Japan in an ''accurate and timely manner'' and that it would like to contribute to enhancing the IAEA's nuclear safety standards.
Amid heightened concern over the safety of atomic power stations around the world, the 151-member IAEA sees the ministerial conference as a starting point for global discussions on nuclear safety, to be followed up by such events as an international conference to be held in Japan in the latter half of next year.
Amano said in his speech that the member countries ''need to systematically and regularly review the safety of all nuclear power plants'' and that, besides each country's national assessments, additional reviews by the IAEA are ''essential to add credibility and transparency.''
Noting that an IAEA review of all the world's 440 operating nuclear reactors in a few years is not realistic, he proposed a random selection of one plant in ten, for example, for a review in a three year period and added that he eyes such a system to start as early as next year.
Amano told a press conference later that European countries, Japan and the United States have accepted the idea of what he calls international peer review, but emerging economies and developing countries, which are concerned that strict safety measures could lead to a rise in the construction costs of atomic power plants, may be reluctant to accept the idea.
More countries now think that it is important to have third-party evaluations of nuclear plant operations after the Fukushima crisis showed that both the government and the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. underestimated the risk of tsunami, the main cause of the crisis.
Amano also stressed in his speech that nuclear regulatory bodies, which play a crucial role in ensuring nuclear safety, must be ''genuinely independent'' and ''staffed by well-trained personnel.''
After unveiling concrete proposals for an enhanced post-Fukushima nuclear safety framework, Amano said, ''Nuclear safety will remain the responsibility of states, but the IAEA will play the lead role in shaping a safer nuclear future throughout the world.''
According to the declaration, the participants committed to ''strengthening the central role of the IAEA'' over global nuclear safety such as in the area of promoting international cooperation and providing expertise, and agreed to pursue ''the highest and most robust levels of nuclear safety.''
Calls to increase the role of the IAEA have emerged from within and outside the U.N. nuclear watchdog after the March 11 magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami triggered Japan's worst nuclear crisis, given that the IAEA apparently had difficulties in collecting information on its own at the start when the situation was rapidly developing.
In the declaration, the need for a global nuclear liability regime to address the concerns of countries that might be affected by nuclear accidents was also touched on, as the Fukushima crisis showed how neighboring countries can be affected by nuclear accidents. Radioactive substances have leaked into the air and sea from the crippled plant in northeastern Japan.
Currently, three international frameworks exist to address compensation for damage arising from a nuclear accident, but members of two of those conventions are mainly Western, Eastern and central European countries. The third convention, which involves the United States, has not entered into force.
Besides the plenary session involving ministers, working sessions to discuss certain topics in more depth were also held and a senior Japanese government official explained Tokyo's report on the nuclear crisis.
Touching on its failure to anticipate the scale of the March 11 tsunami, which flooded most of the emergency diesel generators at the plant, the Japanese government noted in the report the need to secure diverse power supply sources to maintain the key cooling functions of reactors and to take steps to prevent hydrogen explosions inside reactor buildings.
It also said that Japan's current nuclear regulatory system, involving various entities, failed to respond promptly to the situation, and that it plans to give more independence to its nuclear regulatory agency by separating it from the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, which has the role of promoting nuclear power.
Kaieda suggested to reporters that he expects the regulatory reform to take place around next year, taking into consideration that an IAEA regulatory review mission will be conducted the same year in Japan as a follow-up to the 2007 mission.
He also told a separate press conference that Japan had placed ''undue trust'' in its nuclear power technology and the government would create new safety standards to prevent a recurrence of another crisis.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on June 20, 2011)
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano called Monday for random safety assessments of nuclear power plants by the U.N. body in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Japan, along with a pledge that the IAEA would play a leading role in enhancing nuclear safety around the world.
He made the remarks at the outset of a five-day IAEA ministerial meeting on nuclear safety in Vienna, where member countries agreed on the benefits of periodic ''high quality independent international safety expert assessments'' under the IAEA framework and recognized the importance of an international compensation framework for nuclear accidents.
Adopting a declaration later Monday, the countries also committed to strengthening the authority of national nuclear regulators and ensuring their effective independence, an area which Japan has taken a hard look at as one of the lessons learned from the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Speaking after IAEA Director General Amano, Japanese industry minister Banri Kaieda said that Japan has a responsibility to explain the ongoing crisis in northeastern Japan in an ''accurate and timely manner'' and that it would like to contribute to enhancing the IAEA's nuclear safety standards.
Amid heightened concern over the safety of atomic power stations around the world, the 151-member IAEA sees the ministerial conference as a starting point for global discussions on nuclear safety, to be followed up by such events as an international conference to be held in Japan in the latter half of next year.
Amano said in his speech that the member countries ''need to systematically and regularly review the safety of all nuclear power plants'' and that, besides each country's national assessments, additional reviews by the IAEA are ''essential to add credibility and transparency.''
Noting that an IAEA review of all the world's 440 operating nuclear reactors in a few years is not realistic, he proposed a random selection of one plant in ten, for example, for a review in a three year period and added that he eyes such a system to start as early as next year.
Amano told a press conference later that European countries, Japan and the United States have accepted the idea of what he calls international peer review, but emerging economies and developing countries, which are concerned that strict safety measures could lead to a rise in the construction costs of atomic power plants, may be reluctant to accept the idea.
More countries now think that it is important to have third-party evaluations of nuclear plant operations after the Fukushima crisis showed that both the government and the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. underestimated the risk of tsunami, the main cause of the crisis.
Amano also stressed in his speech that nuclear regulatory bodies, which play a crucial role in ensuring nuclear safety, must be ''genuinely independent'' and ''staffed by well-trained personnel.''
After unveiling concrete proposals for an enhanced post-Fukushima nuclear safety framework, Amano said, ''Nuclear safety will remain the responsibility of states, but the IAEA will play the lead role in shaping a safer nuclear future throughout the world.''
According to the declaration, the participants committed to ''strengthening the central role of the IAEA'' over global nuclear safety such as in the area of promoting international cooperation and providing expertise, and agreed to pursue ''the highest and most robust levels of nuclear safety.''
Calls to increase the role of the IAEA have emerged from within and outside the U.N. nuclear watchdog after the March 11 magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami triggered Japan's worst nuclear crisis, given that the IAEA apparently had difficulties in collecting information on its own at the start when the situation was rapidly developing.
In the declaration, the need for a global nuclear liability regime to address the concerns of countries that might be affected by nuclear accidents was also touched on, as the Fukushima crisis showed how neighboring countries can be affected by nuclear accidents. Radioactive substances have leaked into the air and sea from the crippled plant in northeastern Japan.
Currently, three international frameworks exist to address compensation for damage arising from a nuclear accident, but members of two of those conventions are mainly Western, Eastern and central European countries. The third convention, which involves the United States, has not entered into force.
Besides the plenary session involving ministers, working sessions to discuss certain topics in more depth were also held and a senior Japanese government official explained Tokyo's report on the nuclear crisis.
Touching on its failure to anticipate the scale of the March 11 tsunami, which flooded most of the emergency diesel generators at the plant, the Japanese government noted in the report the need to secure diverse power supply sources to maintain the key cooling functions of reactors and to take steps to prevent hydrogen explosions inside reactor buildings.
It also said that Japan's current nuclear regulatory system, involving various entities, failed to respond promptly to the situation, and that it plans to give more independence to its nuclear regulatory agency by separating it from the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, which has the role of promoting nuclear power.
Kaieda suggested to reporters that he expects the regulatory reform to take place around next year, taking into consideration that an IAEA regulatory review mission will be conducted the same year in Japan as a follow-up to the 2007 mission.
He also told a separate press conference that Japan had placed ''undue trust'' in its nuclear power technology and the government would create new safety standards to prevent a recurrence of another crisis.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on June 20, 2011)
