Japan, IAEA to Hold Fukushima Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety

On 17 February 2012, the Japanese Government announced that it will hold The Fukushima Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety, in co-sponsorship with the IAEA.

Convening in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, from 15 to 17 December 2012, the Conference will be organized in two sessions. Opening with a Ministerial Session on 15 December 2012, to be followed by technical experts' sessions.

The International Ministerial Conference's principal objective is to contribute to strengthening nuclear safety worldwide. The Conference will provide yet another opportunity to share with the international community further knowledge and lessons learned from the accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations, to further enhance transparency, and to discuss the progress of international efforts in strengthening nuclear safety, including through the implementation of the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety.

Action Plan

After the nuclear accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations on 11 March 2011, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano dispatched an International Experts Fact-Finding Mission to the site of the accident, and convened a Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety in Vienna in June 2011. The Ministerial Conference adopted a Ministerial Declaration that, inter alia, requested the Director General to develop a draft Action Plan on Nuclear Safety. Developed in intensive consultation with Member States, the Action Plan on Nuclear Safety was adopted by the IAEA's Board of Governors and subsequently unanimously endorsed by the IAEA General Conference in September 2011. The implementation of the Action Planstarted immediately after its adoption through a wide range of activities. More

 

Iran announces nuclear summit

Iran has said it will host a nuclear disarmament conference later this month as part of an efforts to ease fears Tehran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Iranian officials announced the two-day conference, entitled "Nuclear energy for everyone, nuclear arms for no one", on Sunday.
Officials said that 60 countries had been invited to attend the meeting, which will run from April 17-18.
Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, said the conference aims to show that Tehran wants to promote nuclear disarmament while encouraging peaceful nuclear energy production. More >>>

Disarmament: Assessing the Prospects for an FM(C)T

The May 29 adoption of a program of work by the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva marked the first time in 11 years that the 65-member body had taken such action.

That step was a cause for celebration as it appeared to open the door to the negotiation of a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
The White House was quick to applaud the development with a statement by President Barack Obama welcoming “today’s important agreement at the Conference on Disarmament to begin negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty, which will end production of fissile materials for use in atomic bombs.”[1] Regrettably, the applause now seems premature as events since May 29 suggest that hopes for rapid progress in the CD are unrealistic. More >>>