IAEA seeks strong role for nuclear safety at ministerial meeting+

VIENNA, June 20 Kyodo -
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano on Monday called for ''random'' safety reviews 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.
The remarks were made at the outset of a five-day IAEA ministerial meeting on nuclear safety from Monday in Vienna, where member countries are expected to agree on the need for periodic IAEA safety assessments on atomic power plants and recognize the importance of an international compensation framework for nuclear accidents.
The countries are also expected to commit to strengthening the authority of national nuclear regulators and ensure 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 Amano, Japanese industry minister Banri Kaieda said that Japan is responsible for explaining 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.
But seeking higher safety standards could trigger a backlash from emerging economies and developing countries that plan to introduce nuclear power plants or increase the number of such plants, because of an expected rise in construction costs.
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 review by the IAEA is ''essential to add credibility and transparency.''
The reviews should be provided in three main areas: the operational safety of a country's nuclear power plants, its emergency preparedness and the effectiveness of its regulatory system.
Given that it is not realistic to check all of the world's 440 operating nuclear reactors in a few years, Amano also said he would propose a ''system based on random selection.''
More countries now think that it is important to have a third-party evaluation of nuclear plant operations after the Fukushima crisis showed that both the government and the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. underestimated the risks of tsunami, the main cause of the crisis.
Amano also stressed 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 a draft of the conference declaration to be adopted as early as Monday, the participants will also commit themselves 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 agree 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 nuclear crisis, given that the IAEA apparently had difficulties in collecting information on its own when the situation was rapidly developing at the outset.
The draft also said that member countries would underline ''the benefits of strengthened and high quality independent international safety experts' assessments'' such as through periodic reviews of nuclear power plant operations and others.
The need for a global nuclear liability regime to address concerns of countries that might be affected by nuclear accidents is also expected to be touched on, as the Fukushima crisis showed how neighboring countries can be affected by nuclear accidents. Radioactive substances have leaked out into the air and sea from the crippled plant in northeastern Japan.
Currently, three 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 was expected to explain the government'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, which involves 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.
Amano said in his speech that he would like a regulatory review mission to take place in 2012 in Japan as a follow-up of the 2007 mission.
Prior to attending the meeting's plenary session, Kaieda met with IAEA's Amano and vowed to continue to present to other countries the lessons of the disaster with the ''highest level of transparency.''