“Nuclear power will remain an important and viable option for many countries as a stable and clean source of energy,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano told an emergency meeting of his Board of Governors in Vienna, noting that the situation at Japan’s earthquake- and tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains very serious although “we are starting to see some positive developments.”
Mr. Amano, who has just returned from a flying visit to Japan, said the current emergency response framework was designed largely in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the then Soviet Union, the worst ever civilian nuclear accident, and before the impact of the so-called information revolution.
“It reflects the realities of the 1980s, not of the 21st century,” he stressed, putting the speed and huge volume of information among the most significant changes since then.
“The responsibility of the IAEA is to provide authoritative and validated information as quickly as possible, but doing this under the current arrangements inevitably takes time and has limitations,” he said. “Some countries are reviewing their plans in the light of Fukushima. The agency’s role in nuclear safety may need to be re-examined, along with the role of our safety standards.”