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Article: Japan to pitch global nuclear safety rules

Mikawa Ossan

いかんわ!
17 Sep 2005
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Quoted from www.japantimes.co.jp

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Japan to pitch global nuclear safety rules

Kyodo News

Japan plans to discuss compiling international safety guidelines for nuclear power plants with other members of the Group of Eight nations with the aim of reaching an agreement at next year's summit in Hokkaido , government sources said Saturday.

One goal is to promote use of nuclear power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Another is to prevent nuclear technologies from being diverted for military use and nuclear-related substances from being transferred to third parties or terrorist groups in rapidly growing energy-consuming nations like China and India, as well as Indonesia and Vietnam where nuclear plant construction projects are under way, the sources said.

Tokyo is also hoping the move will help Japanese manufacturers of nuclear reactors boost their international market share.

The international guidelines would be applicable not only to new nuclear reactors to be built in cooperation with Japan, the United States or other major nations, but hopefully existing reactors as well, according to the sources.

The guidelines are expected to include assistance from the G-8 nations on techniques for safety inspections and maintenance, as well as stipulating training for local staff and unified regulations on management to prevent the transfer of technologies or nuclear-related materials.

Tokyo also plans to call for nations to boost their contributions to a nuclear safety fund at the International Atomic Energy Agency to help ensure the effectiveness of the guidelines.

Japan is set to propose at this June's G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, global steps aimed at halving greenhouse gas emissions from the current levels by 2050.

The promotion of the construction of nuclear power plants under the envisioned safety guidelines would help pave the way toward achieving goals in reducing emissions and build momentum toward establishing a post-Kyoto Protocol framework from 2013.

Japan and the United States already agreed in a Joint Nuclear Energy Action Plan last month to collaborate in supporting safe and secure expansion of nuclear energy while promoting nonproliferation in countries interested in nuclear power.

Tokyo plans to develop the safety guidelines based on this joint action plan and seek the cooperation of Russia, France and other major nations, the sources said.

Japan wants to seek a G-8 consensus at this year's summit to compile the post-Kyoto framework next year when it hosts the meeting of leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States in the Lake Toya resort area in Hokkaido.
 
I think it's great to see Japan take the initiative on this!

I was surprised to discover after reading this article that the only logical conclusion to make is that there are no international standards agreed upon for this. (Of course one thing that I have noticed is that newspapers tend to simplify the truth to quite an extent.)
 
I also think it is great that Japan takes the initiative on this part, however I really think that Japan should first work on the safety of their own nuclear plants, because they sure aren't that safe.

Nuclear power plants are one of the best options to work on a cleaner world, so I hope they work improve the safety first and then stimulate governments to build them.
 
Well I'm just glad someone took a stand and decided there should be guildlines for nuclear energy. I'm suprised we have gone this long without any and I hope the U.S gets motiviated and follows through with this.
 
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