Statement by Ambassador Mitsuru Kitano at the Board of Governors Meeting starting on 2 March 2015 Item 3: Strengthening the Agency’s activities related to nuclear, radiation, transport and waste safety (a) Nuclear Safety Review 2015 (b) Draft Safety Requirements
2015/3/2
March 11th is the fourth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Japan highly appreciates the Agency’s activities since the accident, and I take this opportunity to reiterate our gratitude to the Agency for its continued cooperation with Japan. We also express once again our gratitude to the Member States for their support. Japan will continue to contribute to strengthening international nuclear safety by sharing information related to the accident with the Member States in a transparent manner.
The Nuclear Safety Review 2015 is a valuable document which gives a clear overview of the activities of the Agency and the international community in 2014 in the field of nuclear safety and future challenges and steps. Japan pays tribute to the Director General and secretariat for the contribution to the activities and efforts aimed at enhancing nuclear, radiation, transport and waste safety.
We recognize the proposed revisions to the IAEA Safety Standards are the first set of revisions for approval of the Board to incorporate lessons learned from the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. We believe they are valuable for Japan in further strengthening its nuclear safety in the future. Japan highly appreciates the IAEA’s activities and efforts which resulted in the proposal of revisions to several IAEA safety requirements at the same time within a short time period after the accident.
With regard to the reports by the Director General (GOV/2015/9), I would like to take this opportunity to make some remarks on the topics included in this report which are of particular relevance to Japan, and the progress towards decommissioning at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
Although the works towards decommissioning at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station are unprecedentedly difficult tasks, progress is being made step by step. The removal of the fuels stored in the spent fuel pool at Unit 4 started in November 2013, and was completed in December last year.
In this regard, Japan hosted last month the third “IAEAInternational Peer Review Missions on the Mid-and-Long-Term Roadmap towards the Decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Units 1-4”.
We highly appreciate the valuable advice from the mission, which is useful in addressing our decommissioning challenges. Japan continues to provide related information necessary for finalizing the report by the mission.
Japan has provided information on the progress of the recovery operations at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in a comprehensive manner to the IAEA secretariat every couple of months. The IAEA has published this information with its comments on their website. This information has just been updated on 27 February and is accessible through the IAEA website.
On the IAEA Fukushima Report, we recognize that the IAEA secretariat is compiling this report to submit to the Board of Governors in June. This report will be an important document which will serve as international technical reference on the accident for many years to come. Japan continues to actively contribute to this work by providing updated information.
With regard to the variety of activities aimed at strengthening nuclear safety as contained in the report by the Director General (GOV/2015/9), I wish to stress that the international community needs to make coordinated efforts for enhancing relevant international frameworks. From this point of view, I would like to highlight two recent developments of relevance to the IAEA.
The Nuclear Safety Review 2015 is a valuable document which gives a clear overview of the activities of the Agency and the international community in 2014 in the field of nuclear safety and future challenges and steps. Japan pays tribute to the Director General and secretariat for the contribution to the activities and efforts aimed at enhancing nuclear, radiation, transport and waste safety.
We recognize the proposed revisions to the IAEA Safety Standards are the first set of revisions for approval of the Board to incorporate lessons learned from the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. We believe they are valuable for Japan in further strengthening its nuclear safety in the future. Japan highly appreciates the IAEA’s activities and efforts which resulted in the proposal of revisions to several IAEA safety requirements at the same time within a short time period after the accident.
With regard to the reports by the Director General (GOV/2015/9), I would like to take this opportunity to make some remarks on the topics included in this report which are of particular relevance to Japan, and the progress towards decommissioning at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
Although the works towards decommissioning at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station are unprecedentedly difficult tasks, progress is being made step by step. The removal of the fuels stored in the spent fuel pool at Unit 4 started in November 2013, and was completed in December last year.
In this regard, Japan hosted last month the third “IAEAInternational Peer Review Missions on the Mid-and-Long-Term Roadmap towards the Decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Units 1-4”.
We highly appreciate the valuable advice from the mission, which is useful in addressing our decommissioning challenges. Japan continues to provide related information necessary for finalizing the report by the mission.
Japan has provided information on the progress of the recovery operations at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in a comprehensive manner to the IAEA secretariat every couple of months. The IAEA has published this information with its comments on their website. This information has just been updated on 27 February and is accessible through the IAEA website.
On the IAEA Fukushima Report, we recognize that the IAEA secretariat is compiling this report to submit to the Board of Governors in June. This report will be an important document which will serve as international technical reference on the accident for many years to come. Japan continues to actively contribute to this work by providing updated information.
With regard to the variety of activities aimed at strengthening nuclear safety as contained in the report by the Director General (GOV/2015/9), I wish to stress that the international community needs to make coordinated efforts for enhancing relevant international frameworks. From this point of view, I would like to highlight two recent developments of relevance to the IAEA.
The Practical Export Control Workshop was hosted by the Wassenaar Arrangement as part of its 20th Anniversary programs and held at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Vienna on 27 and 28 June 2016. More than 100 government representatives from 46 countries participated in the technically focused Practical Workshop.
Workshop speakers included the 2016 WA Plenary Chair Ambassador Anu Laamanen (Finland), 2016 WA General Working Group Chair Ambassador Paul Beijer (Sweden), 2015-2016 WA Experts Group Chair Robertas Rosinas (Lithuania), 2016 WA Licensing and Enforcement Officers Meeting Chair Jon Erik Strömö (Norway), as well as the Head of the WA Secretariat, Ambassador Philip Griffiths. The WA control lists as well as export licensing and enforcement topics were covered during the two days.
The following link from WA’s webpage contains more details:
http://www.wassenaar.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/June-2016-Workshop-media-release.pdf
Workshop speakers included the 2016 WA Plenary Chair Ambassador Anu Laamanen (Finland), 2016 WA General Working Group Chair Ambassador Paul Beijer (Sweden), 2015-2016 WA Experts Group Chair Robertas Rosinas (Lithuania), 2016 WA Licensing and Enforcement Officers Meeting Chair Jon Erik Strömö (Norway), as well as the Head of the WA Secretariat, Ambassador Philip Griffiths. The WA control lists as well as export licensing and enforcement topics were covered during the two days.
The following link from WA’s webpage contains more details:
http://www.wassenaar.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/June-2016-Workshop-media-release.pdf