IAEA sees need for stronger role after Fukushima

Mar 21, 2011, 12:12 GMT

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General, Yukiya Amano, during a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, 21 March 2011. Media reports state that the IAEA 35-member board of governors is convening, on 21 March 2011, its first extraordinary meeting in Vienna since December 2009, when IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano was elected to his post. Amano will report on his 19 March 2011 meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan and senior atomic officials about what steps are being taken to control radiation leaking from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear complex. EPA/GEORG HOCHMUTH

Vienna - The International Atomic Energy Agency's limited role in dealing with nuclear accidents like the one in Japan may need to be reconsidered, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said Monday.

The IAEA's limited response to the drama at the quake-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has been dictated by the fact that it only plays an advisory role in the field of nuclear safety and cannot intervene if standards are not met or if incidents occur.

'The agency's role in nuclear safety may need to be re-examined, along with the role of our safety standards,' Amano said at a specially convened meeting of the 35-country IAEA governing board in Vienna.

The question of making the standards developed by the IAEA mandatory mandatory might come up for discussion, he told reporters afterwards. But he added that it would be difficult to change the present situation, given divergent views among IAEA member countries.

In his statement to the board, Amano countered criticism by the media and diplomats that the Vienna-based organization had been slow to respond after the Fukushima nuclear power plant was struck by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

He suggested that the IAEA's role in disseminating information and coordinating international help was governed by outdated international legal provisions that were set up in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine.

'It reflects the realities of the 1980s, not of the 21st century,' he said.

Safety standards themselves would also need to be reviewed, especially concerning protection against tsunamis, he added.

Japanese authorities had mandated Fukushima to withstand 5.7-metre tsunamis, but the wave on March 11 has been estimated at over 10 metres.

In a joint statement issued at the board meeting in Vienna, European Union countries did not criticize Amano or the IAEA, but said they would continue to push for improving international nuclear safety standards.

The United States and Canada said in a joint statement that lessons would have to be learned from Fukushima. Like the EU and other member states, they offered technical support to Japan.

Amano said that the data flow from Japan to the IAEA and on to governments around the world has gotten better, even if there is still some room for improvement.

The nuclear agency depends on official information from Japan. In the first week after the earthquake, data often only arrived in Vienna hours after it was disclosed to the media, according to an IAEA official who asked not to be named.

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