The IAEA’s Coordination of International Nuclear Safety Policies in the Post-Fukushima Age
Nuclear safety has always been given special attention in the program activities of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since its establishment in 1957. It is hardly surprising that intense debates on the consequences of the 2011 Fukushima accident for nuclear energy took place within the framework of the IAEA as the only international organization with relevant expertise and capacity. The paper examines the key IAEA activities in nuclear safety and lessons learned from the Fukushima accident as well as the development of the post-Fukushima international cooperation between the IAEA member states. The first section focuses on the IAEA program activities in the field of nuclear safety as well as on the Agency’s role in coordinating member states’ interactions pertaining to addressing the consequences of the Fukushima accident. The second section examines specific measures taken in the immediate aftermath of the accident. Special attention is paid to the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety (2011). Finally, the third section tracks the process of strengthening relevant international legal instruments (notably, the adoption of the Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety in 2015). The author concludes that the relevant IAEA activities to examine the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident still remain topical as well as the implementation of the relevant findings in practice. In particular, this is reflected in the need to maintain a policy of the strengthening nuclear safety determined by the specific implementation of the IAEA Action Plan.