UN chief calls for worldwide review of nuclear safety standards

FE Team | Published: April 21, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

KIEV, April 20 (Xinhua): UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday called for a worldwide review of nuclear safety standards during a trip to the Chernobyl exclusion zone. "The standards of nuclear safety should be fully reviewed. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) must work carefully in this direction. The world community must consider the advantages and disadvantages that nuclear energy brings and to protect nuclear facilities from terrorism," Ban said. The world must raise awareness of nuclear safety, said Ban, who was visiting the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power disaster in the country. Ban said it was necessary to consider the "physical protection" of nuclear materials and protect them from terrorist attack. "We will have a high-level meeting in June with this aim. And in September we expect to hold a world leaders summit, devoted to strengthening world nuclear security," he said. Ban was in the country to attend a week of commemorative activities marking the 25th anniversary of the nuclear disaster. Meanwhile: One year after the first nuclear security summit hosted by President Barack Obama was held in Washington, complex progress has been made worldwide. Yet the threat of nuclear castrophes remains far from being eliminated. Since Obama took office, Jenkins said, the highly enriched uranium from more than 30 nuclear bombs has been repatriated to Russia, with roughly a quarter of that material being sent back since last year's summit. About 20 countries are also considered free of highly enriched uranium because of the U.S. Energy Department's threat reduction program. The project was launched in 2004 during the Bush administration but Obama has accelerated it, Jenkins said. Prior to the summit, the United States was in the process of working with a number of countries-such as Romania, Kazakhstan, Libya, Chile, Turkey, Serbia-and trying to move the ball forward. Meanwhile: South Korea's oldest nuclear reactor, shut down for a technical glitch, will go through a month- long safety checkup before resuming operation, a state-run nuclear power company said Wednesday. "While it is shut down, the Kori-1 nuclear reactor will undergo a closer inspection by the science ministry, considering public concerns over safety of the reactor," head of the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) told reporters in a briefing, referring to a reactor located in South Korea's southeastern coastal town of Gori. The Kori reactor, which began operation in 1978, was shut down last week due to malfunction of electric circuits, sparking safety concerns. Under the current government blueprint, the aging reactor will continue running through 2017, long past its original 30-year lifespan. The Kori reactor was built after the country was forced to shift its attention from thermal power to an alternative energy source in the wake of the two oil shocks of the 1970's. The country also aims to become one of the top exporters of nuclear reactors and nuclear technology, looking to export 80 nuclear reactors worth 400 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. With neighboring Japan faced with a devastating nuclear crisis, however, local civic groups and municipal governments have been increasingly vociferous in resisting South Korea's growing reliance on nuclear energy.