G8, G20 prepare for UN nuclear talks

FRANCE: The G8 and G20 will meet in Paris in June to prepare for a conference of the UN's nuclear agency sparked by the Fukushima disaster, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Thursday.

"The G8 and G20 have decided that they would like to hold a meeting on the 7th and 8th of June, hosted here at the OECD conference centre," OECD chief Angel Gurria told a press conference.

Gurria gave no further details of the talks, which will take place ahead of a June 20-24 ministerial-level meeting in Vienna of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The IAEA has come under fire for its handling of the Fukushima accident, which ranks alongside Chernobyl as the world's worst nuclear disaster.

The agency says in its defence that its mandate focuses on preventing military nuclear proliferation and that it has no legal power to enforce safety standards for civilian nuclear power. These standards are the affairs of individual states.

On April 7, the agency's head of nuclear safety, Denis Flory, said that the mandate could be revised in June if the IAEA's 151 member states agreed.

The IAEA's director general, Yukiya Amano, agreed in Paris on Thursday that this option was possible.

"We are the nuclear watchdog for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, but are not considered as (the) nuclear safety watchdog," said Amano, who was speaking after talks with Gurria. "It is the responsibility of member states, and we are helping them... This is the current arrangement. Whether this is the best arrangement or need to think another way, it's something that we need to see." He added: "The main purpose (of the June meeting) will be to conduct an initial assessment of the accident, a preliminary review of the international response and preliminary review of the safety of nuclear power as a whole."

 PARIS, Friday, AFP