Atomic Agency Agrees to 'Watered-down' Nuclear Safety Tests

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--An action plan to make nuclear power plants safer has been introduced by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but has been branded as 'timid' by a number of countries who sought stricter safety controls.

The IAEA is the nuclear advisory agency for the United Nations (UN), and the revised safety plan is designed to ensure better safety at the world's 432 nuclear reactors, in the wake of March's disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

However, the action plan has come under fire for having been watered down from its original goals, with the recommendations being voluntary. Germany, Canada, Switzerland and others voiced their disappointment with the safety plan, referring to it as 'timid' and 'a step backwards.'

The 35 countries represented on the IAEA board unanimously adopted the 12-point programme, despite complaints, in a closed meeting on Tuesday. The document will be presented to all 151 members of the United Nations next week.

"It will take rapid and visible improvements in nuclear safety, not just good intentions, to restore public confidence in nuclear power," stated UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano. "The agency will play its central part with vigour. In the aftermath of Fukushima Daiichi, the most important thing is to ensure transparency, build confidence, and meet the high expectations of the public. But it is actions, not words that count."

The 12-point programme calls for new safety assessments of the world's nuclear plants and emergency measures. It also calls for more "peer review" visits to nuclear countries by external experts. However, none of the plan's recommendations are mandatory leaving it up to each country as to whether they will invite, or allow, foreign nuclear teams to check plant safety.

"The draft Action Plan before Governors today will be seen as a timid response by the Agency," read a statement from Canada's board representative to the closed meeting. "It is disappointing, therefore, that the draft contains few new commitments and little in the way of increased transparency or safety peer reviews."

At the end of May the European Union's 27 member states agreed a stricter set of safety tests that would be carried out on Europe's 143 nuclear reactors. For additional information, see May 26, 2011, article - Europe Agrees 'Stress Tests' Conditions for Nuclear Power Plants.

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