nuclear-news

* Fukushima disaster prompted global nuclear rethink

* IAEA seeks strengthened action to prevent any repeat

* Proposes expansion of international safety checks

VIENNA,  The U.N. atomic agency would carry out international safety checks of ten percent of the world’s reactor units over a three-year period, under a draft action plan to prevent any repeat of Japan’s nuclear crisis.

The document from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), obtained by Reuters on Monday, outlined a series of measures in 10 areas to help improve global nuclear safety after the Fukushima accident more than five months ago.

While stressing that atomic energy safety was primarily a national responsibility, it signalled a strengthened role for the IAEA and its expert missions to review compliance with international reactor and regulatorystandards…..

Japan’s crisis has prompted a rethink of energy policy worldwide, underlined by Germany’s decision to close all its reactors by 2022 and Italy’s vote to ban nuclear for decades.

REGULATORY INDEPENDENCE

Three reactors at the Japanese complex went into meltdown when power and cooling functions failed, causing radiation leakage and forcing the evacuation of some 80,000 people.

But even though IAEA states agree on the need for enhanced nuclear safety, they have voiced differing positions on how much international action is needed.

Nuclear power plant exporters Russia and France have called for stronger international steps, but others are more cautious.

Currently there are no mandatory, international nuclear safety regulations, only IAEA recommendations which national regulators are in charge of enforcing. The U.N. agency conducts review missions, but only at a member state’s invitation.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, a veteran Japanese diplomat, faces a difficult task in balancing different views among the agency’s some 151 member states…

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/15/nuclear-iaea-safety-idUSLDE77E0F720110815