VIENNA, June 20 (UPI) -- Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency, at their ministerial conference in Vienna, adopted a declaration calling for improved global nuclear safety.
The five-day meeting in the Austrian capital is designed to find ways to enhance safety at nuclear plants and minimize the risk of further accidents similar to the one at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The declaration called for a number of improvements to global nuclear safety, an IAEA report said. It stressed the need to receive from Japan and the IAEA a comprehensive and fully transparent assessment of the Fukushima accident for future guidance, particularly regarding multiple severe hazards.
The declaration underlined the benefits of strengthened and high quality independent international safety expert assessments within the IAEA framework, and the need to improve national, regional and international emergency preparedness and response to nuclear accidents.
"It is incumbent on all of us to take stock of the Fukushima Daiichi accident and to learn the lessons it teaches us as we strive to enhance nuclear safety worldwide," said Ambassador Antonio Guerreiro of Brazil, who inaugurated the conference.
