Suggestions sans power

The nuclear industry is taking a close look at itself post-Fukushima, and the regulatory framework will have to be enhanced based on what lessons come out of Japan, attendees of a conference agreed last week.

A five-day conference on nuclear safety wrapped up June 24 in Vienna, hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an organization established in 1957 that promotes the commercial use of nuclear power and reports to the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

"Collectively, our member states have expressed their sense of urgency, as well as their determination, that the lessons of Fukushima Daiichi will be learned and that the appropriate action will be taken," said IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano. "We have seen differences of opinion in some areas, which is entirely natural, but I am struck by how much broad agreement there has been on the fundamentals."

Those fundamentals, according to Amano's concluding remarks, include agreements to strengthen IAEA's safety standards, review the safety of all nuclear power plants, enhance the effectiveness of national nuclear regulatory offices, strengthen emergency preparedness and expand the IAEA's role in distributing information to its 151 member states.

Part of the plan to improve plant safety is to take into consideration politics. In the conference's main findings report, the IAEA said the Convention on Nuclear Safety could be modified to take into account "areas such as transparency, the independence of regulatory bodies, emergency preparedness and the peer review process."

The recommendations were broad and far-reaching, but the IAEA cannot enforce them, only recommend that member states adopt the measures. Member states were strongly encouraged to take certain steps, characterized as imperative, but the IAEA can only propose what its role could be.

"It was suggested that internationally harmonized review methodologies, e.g. stress tests, be implemented by all member states. The IAEA could play a leading role in the development of these methodologies on a coordinated basis," according to an IAEA summary of the conference.

One of the more ambitious recommendations was for the establishment of a peer review system, by which member states would be subject to a peer review of their national regulatory bodies every 10 years. Furthermore, the IAEA would review 10 percent of all nuclear reactors within the next three years. This step, of course, would depend on the organization acquiring capacities it doesn't have.

"With some reinforcement of its present capabilities, the IAEA could conduct an international safety review of one nuclear power plant in 10 over the next three years, since reviewing all 440 operating nuclear reactors around the world in a short period of time is not realistic," Amano said.

Claire Compton can be reached at
ccompton@praguepost.com