- Title: AUSTRIA: Fukushima governor asks for IAEA's assistance in decontamination project
- Date: 31st August 2012
- Summary: VIENNA, AUSTRIA ( AUGUST 31, 2012) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS BUILDING IAEA FLAG IN FRONT OF UNITED NATIONS BUILDING IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL YUKIYA AMANO AND GOVERNOR OF FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE YUHEI SATO SHAKING HANDS CLOSE OF AMANO PHOTOGRAPHER AMANO AND SATO WALKING AWAY/IAEL LOGO IN BACKGROUND AMANO, SATO, JAPANESE AND IAEA DELEGATIONS SITTING AROUND TABLE/JOURNALISTS TAKI
- Embargoed: 15th September 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Austria
- Country: Austria
- Topics: Disasters
- Reuters ID: LVA5XHL3JTUJCQ8BQ3VYY4DQD2F
- Story Text: Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato met IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) director general Yukiha Amano in Vienna on Friday (August 31) for the purpose of discussing nuclear safety in Vienna.
During the meeting, Sato asked the director general of IAEA for assistance in projects aimed at decontaminating Fukushima areas. He said he received a positive response from the head of the nuclear watchdog.
"Fukushima prefecture would like to carry out several projects and one of them is in the area of health -- we would like to create a project in the area of decontamination. For this I sought kind cooperation of IAEA and Director General Amano has kindly responded positively and also said that It was not only the IAEA but also the world's who should cooperate. In December, an international conference on these issues is going to be held in our prefecture," Yuhei Sato told reporters after meeting Yukiya Amano.
"IAEA is looking positively towards participation, willingness to cooperate will not only benefit the people of Fukushima prefecture, but also the people around the world, and I am sure that this kind of message will fill the people of my prefecture with a sense of relief. As the director general has mentioned earlier, we are looking forward to experts' advice and comments from all over the world," he added.
Amano said earlier on Monday (August 27) that improving global nuclear safety after last year's Fukushima disaster must remain an urgent concern, despite improvements already made.
His statement came as he addressed the sidelines of the extraordinary meeting of the 75-nation Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS), which was negotiated after the 1986 nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant near Kiev, which sent radioactive dust across Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and western Europe.
The meeting was hosted by the IAEA and aimed at enhancing international standards to prevent any repeat of Japan's reactor meltdowns.
Meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami sent radiation spewing over large areas, forcing more than 160,0000 people to flee. In the following months, all Japan's remaining reactors were shut for safety checks. Two reactors resumed operation last month.
The worst such accident since Chernobyl also cast a question mark over the future of nuclear energy elsewhere in the world.
In Europe, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium decided to move away from nuclear to increase their reliance on renewable energy.
The IAEA has said it believes, however, that global use of nuclear energy could increase by as much as 100 percent by 2030 on the back of growth in Asia, including in China and India. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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