Can nuclear energy be safe? The question has been repeatedly asked in the past weeks, particularly in the wake of the on-going crisis at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in Japan, which happened 25 years after Chernobyl, the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
“A cloudless sky over Chernobyl” – this was the motto of a Kiev-based top-level conference on the safe and innovative use of nuclear energy. Donor-countries have raised 550 million euro for the construction of a new sarcophagus over the crippled reactor at the Chernobyl power plant.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for revising fundamental approaches to nuclear plant safety:
“We need a global rethink on this fundamental question. It is time for a top to bottom review of current nuclear safety standards, both at the national and international levels. Today, the primary responsibility for ensuring the safety of nuclear installations lies with national governments. It also means greater transparency if there is to be public trust. We need international standards for construction, agreed guarantees of public safety, full transparency and information-sharing among nations.”
Reactors must be adequately protected against any outward threat be it natural calamities such as earthquakes, fires and hurricanes, or possible terrorist attacks.
About 60 new nuclear power plants are currently being built in the world in addition to the already existing 433 plants, some of which are located in quake prone areas.
Russia holds the lead in nuclear plant construction. In his speech at the Kyiv conference, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said that nuclear energy remained the driving force behind technological progress:
Despite the severity of nuclear disasters, we are convinced that nuclear energy will and must be developed as it doubtless remains one of the most economically profitable sources of electricity provided that the nuclear safety standards are strictly observed at all stages – the design, construction and operation of a nuclear power plant. Without nuclear energy, mankind will be unable to meet it energy needs.
We have tested our nuclear power plants’ resistance to a 14-meter tsunami, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and to other potential threats. The conclusion is that the Russian reactor technology meets all safety standards and is absolutely reliable.
Mr. Sechin urged all countries to conduct similar stress tests and report the results to the International Atomic Energy Agency prior to its July conference on nuclear safety.
The main message of the Kyiv summit is that although proper lessons need to be drawn from the situation at the Fukushima plant, natural calamities cannot and must not stop technological development.
Download
Please rate: