The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors on Tuesday adopted new safety standards the U.N. organization says emphasize senior management roles at nuclear facilities in protecting human life, health, and the environment from radiation risks.
“The safety standards are a cornerstone for nuclear and radiation safety, and they have to be updated to reflect developments,” IAEA Deputy Director General Juan Carlos Lentijo said in a statement Wednesday. “This important update introduces substantive changes that highlight that prioritizing safety is a responsibility not only for staff on the control room floor, but also for chief executive officers and all personnel. Implementing these requirements will ensure a good safety culture.”
The newly adopted IAEA General Safety Requirements document, which draws lessons from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster, dictates that senior management establish and continuously improve a management system that ensures safety and “requires senior managers to identify and provide the resources needed to ensure safety.”
The revised safety standards also widen the scope to include a greater number of facilities in all IAEA member states, ranging from multi-reactor nuclear power plants to small medical facilities. The measures, the IAEA said, are meant to ensure that safety measures prevent accidents and malicious attacks.
