INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON NUCLEAR
SAFETY AFTER FUKUSHIMAEUROPEAN AND JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES

WHAT WORLD GOVERNANCE FOR NUCLEAR SAFETYLESSONS FROM THE FUKUSHIMA ACCIDENTPATRICK REYNERSTOKYO,22 DECEMBER 2012

LEARNING THE LESSONS FROM THE PAST
• “A nuclear accident anywhere is an accident
everywhere”- Hans Blix
- Chernobyl resulted in a “nuclear winter” but also
led to a major overhaul of the nuclear safety
regime• The question today is what may be the effect ofFukushima on nuclear safety worldwide ?
• It cannot be “business as usual“ – Ban Ki-Moon
2

A STORY OF SEVERE NUCLEAR ACCIDENTS•

Possible consequences of severe nuclear accidents:- Off-site long-term contamination- Evacuation of population- Transfrontier damage- Health, economic and psycho-sociological impact•

Severe accidents over the last 50 years:- 1957 - Windscale (UK) - Limited off-site contamination- 1979 - TMI (USA) - Core melt-down; no off-site release- 1986 - Chernobyl (USSR) – Widespread radioactive contamination- 2011 – Fukushima Dai-ichi (Japan) – Significant contamination

3FROM SOFT LAW TO HARD LAW•

Before Chernobyl- International recommendations on sound technical standards and good practices for publicauthorities and nuclear operators (only advisory)- In many nuclear active countries, governments are in charge of both the promotion and thecontrol of the use of nuclear energy- Governments claim exclusive jurisdiction over the safety of domestic nuclear installations•

After Chernobyl- Earlier policy no longer sustainable•

A quick legal fix:
- Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear accident (26-9-1986)- Emergency Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological(26-9-1986)•More hurdles on the road to an international treaty governing nuclear safety (1986 to 1994)

4

THE FAMILY OF NUCLEAR SAFETY
INSTRUMENTS•

The Convention on Nuclear Safety (20-9-1994)- Scope and obligations- The “Peer Review” mechanism- An “incentive” Convention•The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safetyof Radioactive Waste Management (5-9-1997)•The Code of Conduct on the Safety of Nuclear Research Reactors (2004) (notlegally binding)

•ALSO

•

The Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive sources (2003) (notlegally binding)•Japan participates in all these instruments

5

NUCLEAR SAFETY: A DYNAMIC RATHER
THAN STATIC PROCESS•Specialists of nuclear safety tend to consider that safety is not some perfect state to bereached but a dynamic process of good practices, behaviors and rules.

•The objective of nuclear safety is :“To protect individuals, society and the environment by establishing andmaintaining… an effective defense against radiological hazard” (INSAG Report 3)•A more analytical definition :“ The whole of the technical and organizational measures required, at all stages ofthe life of a nuclear installation, so that its operation and very existence constitutes
a risk sufficiently low to be acceptable to workers, the public and the environment”(source CEA)

•Regulations must be supplemented by proper safety culture :“That assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organizations and individuals
which establishes that, as an overriding priority, nuclear plant safety issues receive
the attention warranted by their significance” (INSAG Report 4)
6

ASSESSING THE ACCEPTABLE RISK• There are no human activities without risk
• Nuclear risk is the combination of the chance of an
accident to happen and the potential magnitude ofits effects• Risk must be kept as low as reasonably achievable• Concept of defense-in-depth barriers• Probabilistic safety assessment• How frequent are nuclear accidents ?

7

FUKUSHIMA : A BLACK SWAN ?
• Black Swan: A highly unlikely event with graveconsequences• A beyond design-basis event• How to imagine the “unimaginable” ?
• As stated by the President of the JAIF:“We somehow fell into a trap in thinking that aslong as we followed strict regulations andstandards, we were safe…we failed to keep aquestioning attitude and fully stretch ourimagination”. – Takuya Hattori8

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AT WORK••

There have been since 11 March a flurry of actions and reactions
internationally and among the nuclear community.
A short selection:– 24 May – Decision on Stress Test to be carried out in Europe (Brussels)– 26/27 May – G.8/G.20 Summit (France); call to strengthen nuclear safety– 20/24 June – IAEA Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety (Vienna) & Report by theJapanese Government on the accident– 19/23 September – Endorsement of an Action Plan by the IAEA General Conference(Vienna)– 22 September – High-Level Meeting on Nuclear Safety (New York)– 9 September – Presentation of the reports on stress tests to the EU Council of Ministers(Brussels)•And in 2012 already:– September – Extraordinary Meeting of the NSC Parties to assess theimpact of the Fukushima accident on the Convention

9MESSAGE FROM JAPAN•

While TEPCO and competent national organizations are still struggling totake full control of the situation, some lessons emerge from the initial
Report submitted last June:“ The fact that this accident has raised concerns around the world about
the safety of nuclear power generation is a matter whichJapan
takes withthe utmost seriousness and remorse”•The investigation Committee created by the Government is asked todemonstrate:“ Independence from Japan’s existing nuclear energy
administration,
openness to the public and international community
andcomprehensiveness in examining various issues related not onlytotechnical elements but also to institutional aspects”
10PROPOSALS FOR A BETTER NUCLEAR
SAFETY GOVERNANCE•TEPCO’s detailed report on the accident expected by June 2012

•The IAEA Action Plan’s main proposals:––––––•

Broader dissemination of better information
Involvement of Stakeholders
Reinforcement of the regulatory bodies
Better emergency preparedness & response
Revisit the international legal framework
Promote independent peer reviews of NPP safety

A more prominent role for the IAEA ?
“ While the Vienna Agency is the watchdog for non-proliferation.., it
the watchdog for nuclear safety”. – Yukiya Amano•

is notOther proposals

11

“WE MUST REBUILD PUBLIC TRUST”
Ban Ki-Moon• Some key words to ponder:– Independence– Openness– Transparency– Trust– Accountability

12