Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: VIENNA 20-24 Jun 2011 Nuclear watchdog sets ministerial-level meeting to address safety

Sunday, June 12, 2011

VIENNA 20-24 Jun 2011 Nuclear watchdog sets ministerial-level meeting to address safety

The International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Yukiya Amano has called a ministerial meeting of the 151 IAEA members to assess what went wrong at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plants after it was hit by an earthquake-triggered tsunami on Mar 11. The director wants the international community to come up with a coordinated plan to respond to such disasters and to discuss ways to prevent them.
A Reuters report on the IAEA announcement suggests the agency could use the Japanese disaster to lobby for the power to enforce nuclear safety standards, something it does not have.
Amano explained that prevention and recovery measures should be addressed at the political level as well as the technical level. He said the meeting will also focus on improving nuclear crisis-management. Highly radioactive water leaked from the site after the disaster.
RELATED READING:
IAEA
http://www.iaea.org/
Analysis: Under pressure, U.N. nuclear body seeks safety role (Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/31/us-japan-nuclear-iaea-idUSTRE72U5KY20110331
IAEA chief says Japan nuclear crisis far from over (DPA/Monsters&Critics 27 Mar 2011)
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1628956.php/Report-IAEA-chief-says-Japan-nuclear-crisis-far-from-over